Cameron
by Ash Colored Wings
Summary: Cameron. Normal people know her as an obnoxious troublemaker with multiple disorders. Not-so-normal people know her as a mischievous daughter of Hermes. Will Solace knows her as his best friend. Developing romance. Before, during PJO.
1. Chapter 1

I groaned as my mom pushed me out the door.

"I don't wanna go!" I groaned, my face smushed against the glass door.

My mom just laughed, closing the inside, wooden door.

"Have fun!" I heard her yell from inside the apartment. I glared at the door for a second before stalking down the steps.

"Dumb school." I said to no one in particular as I walked with and against the morning rush of people. When I got to school, the bell was just ringing. The bright 'Welcome Back' sign made me want to puke.

I hated new schools, mainly because I was always at one. I think my record time at a school was one year, and that was in Fifth grade, when my mom and I were gone most of the time because of her dad's death.

I glanced at my schedule, which confirmed that Advanced Civics was my first class. I made my way to the 300 buildings, and frowned when I saw all the classrooms I passed already filled. Oh... That bell had been the late bell... Right. I _would_ be late the first day of school.

I opened the door to my class when I got to it, and all heads turned to me. The teacher glanced at me before looking at her attendance sheet.

"Ah, are you Cameron Nénuphar?" She asked, and I nodded, "Take a seat at any empty desk." She said, and I nodded, looking at the desks. I sat in one towards the back.

I barely paid attention as the class went by, since she only was talking about rules. I didn't bother trying to talk with anyone, since it seemed like they were all boring. They all sat up straight, paying attention to the teachers every word, not a hair out of place. I mean, c'mon! We're not in high school yet, we can do whatever we want to and it won't go on our record. Well, almost anything.

"Once again, my number one rule for you, the students, is that you, never, and I mean never-" She was cut off by the bell, and I grinned, standing up.

The rest of the day was almost equally boring, the almost meaning I met a few people who seemed not to borderline on being a creepy OCD goody-two shoes.

When the day finally ended, I wanted just jump for the fun of it. Really. That's how boring this school was. Jumping would be fun. I mean, saying school is boring is basically a given, but when you don't have anyone else besides you who is willing to talk up, and I don't know, go _against_ the rules, school is pointless.

The walk home was faster then it had been when I was going from home to school, most likely since the afternoon rush hadn't begun yet. The sidewalks were still bustling with tourists and random people, but not nearly as many people as there had been.

As I neared my home, the crowds thinned out. Probably because I lived borderline Manhattan and Queens, and tourists mainly swarmed in Manhattan. I was probably a quarter mile away when I heard a yelp from an alley I was passing, followed by a pained moan.

My curiosity got the best of me, and I peered down the alleyway. Someone, I think a woman, was on the ground, bent over slightly as their hands massaged their knee. I could tell they weren't homeless, and actually quite rich, judging by their clothing.

"Hello? Are you alright?" I asked as I inched into the alley. Mom had always told me that I shouldn't ever talk, look or help strangers; especially in a large city where it was likely they could just be desperate because they were homeless, trying to take advantage of your kindness.

"Oh, honey, thank you. I just banged my knee on that there garbage can. In a city like this, I doubted anyone would come help even if they saw a man bleeding his guts out." The woman said, her accent distinctly Southern. I grimaced at the mental image her words portrayed, my mind taking it seriously though I knew she just meant if someone was badly hurt.

"Its fine. Do you need help up?" I asked, and she smiled from under her flowered violet-and-white hat. But something about her was off, I just couldn't name it.

"No, but I think you need help down…" She snarled, losing her Southern accent, a grin curling her lips upward in a predatory smile as her hand shot out, ensnaring my ankle her hand. As I fell, I could see her bared teeth elongating into somewhat vampire-like fangs, and, while I couldn't see her legs, the legs of her slacks seemed to change, one seeming to fill out while the other I couldn't see any visible difference in.

My head hit the ground, my observations cut short as I clutched my head. Pain blossomed where I'd banged my head, and my head as a whole felt like it was throbbing. I vaguely felt myself being dragged away, but my eyes were clenched shut and most of my conscious mind was focused on my head, only a small part realizing I was being dragged away by a stranger.

"Let me go." I said through clenched teeth, my voice rising at the end slightly, just enough to be classified as a shriek.

"Dumb half-blood, always falling for stupid prank. Never learn." She said, seemingly to herself, as she shook her head. Now, I noticed her accent was foreign, probably France or a close country. I mentally cursed myself and my ADHD for focusing on her accent when I should be trying to get away from the crazy, somewhat supernatural lady.

"Look, I'll scream if you don't let me go." I said, trying to sound intimidating, when I noticed she continued on, deeper into the alleyway. It couldn't be too far before we got close to another road, could it?

She just laughed, a low, husky sound, which made me shriek, growing even more frantic. I tried to rip my ankle out of her grip, but she just tightened her grip. Reaching up, I clawed at her hand, digging my nails into her hand. She let out a hiss, turning around just as I bolted, back down the alley the way we'd came.

"HELP! HELP!" I screamed, but we were still to far away from the road, I guess, because no one came down the alleyway to help. I continued running until I got to the road, and when I looked back, the woman was gone, as if she was never there.

A/N

Just so you know, this is about two years before the Percy Jackson series begins. Cameron is 12 right now.

So, tell me what you think . Like it, love it, hate is, despise it, whatever. PM me, review me, I just want some feedback. The next chapter will be focusing on her and how she finds out she's a half-blood, I believe. The way I write my stories is by any idea I get while writing, and I usually don't know what's going to be next, so don't count on anything I say.

Thanks for reading, next chapter will be up somewhere between tomorrow and a week from now, so keep checking back. P.S., the longest I'll put between updates is a week, unless some technical or lack of idea issues come up.

-Ash Colored Wings


	2. Chapter 2

It took about two seconds before I began screaming and running down the sidewalk towards my mom.

"MOM! MOM!" I screamed as I unlocked the wooden door, the glass door resting against my back. I pushed it open, the glass door swinging shut as I walked into the house. I locked the door behind me, and I heard the frantic padding of my mother's feet on the wooden floor as she came to the greeting area.

"Honey, honey, what is it? Is someone following you? Are you okay? Is anything-" I cut her off.

"There was this-this monster, it was a woman, she-she had vampire teeth, and her-her legs were-they were messed up, I mean, I couldn't see them but I could-I could just tell. She t-tried to drag me away, but I-I-" I paused, gasping for breath as my body began to shake uncontrollably.

"Honey, oh honey…" She wrapped me in her arms, "I hoped this wouldn't happen, but, oh, I knew it would eventually." She sighed, and I only vaguely heard her words, my mind replaying the scene of the monster-woman again and again, "Let me make you some hot coco, then I'll… I'll explain things." She said, placing a hand on the small of my back and gently pushing me forward. I stumbled slightly, but went and sat on the couch.

I sat up straight, my hands folded and my jaw set. I couldn't seem to concentrate on anything besides the memory of the woman. What was she? How was she? What she had done, grown _fangs_, shouldn't be possible.

When my mother came back, I shook my head, pushing the memories out of my head. If she knew something, anything at all about what had happened, then I should probably listen so I don't have nightmares about it till the day I die.

"Okay… wow, I don't know how to say this…" My mom said as she sat down next to me, letting out a sigh as she ran a hand through her light brown hair, "You know who the Greek Gods are, don't you?" She asked and I sighed.

"Yes mom, I do. Do you actually know who-_what_ that lady was, or are you going to quiz me on religions?" I asked, frowning at her slightly.

"And you know about demi-gods, or half-gods? Like Hercules." She explained farther as an afterthought, and I nodded, sighing.

"Yes…" I mumbled, resting my chin in my hand.

"And that they come… eh, onto this earth when a god and a mortal… mate." She said, struggling for words a few times.

"I'm not five, mom. And yes, I do." I said, faking a yawn. I took a sip from my hot coco as she struggled to find her next words.

"Alright… the gods are real. They actually do mate with mortals, and there are actually quite a few demigods. A thousand living right now at the most, though some don't know they are the offspring of a god or goddess." She said, her speech steadily growing faster until she finished. I slowly looked up at her, a smirk slowly creeping onto my face. At least she was trying to talk about something funny to take my mind off things.

"Its not April Fools yet, mom. Good try. But really, if you don't know anything about that-that _thing_ then just says so." I said, and she sighed, looking frustrated.

"Go pack a few weeks worth of clothes, and a tooth brush and stuff. Hurry, don't question me." She said, when I was about to protest. I frowned at her, but obeyed, since she barely was the type to joke, and when she did it was a miserably obvious joke, like the one she'd just told me about the demi-gods and gods and how their real.

I grabbed a duffle I'd gotten from Disneyland a few years ago, stuffing it with clothes before going to the bathroom my mom and I shared and stuffing it with all my stuff in the bathroom. Its not like I had a huge amount of 'primping' tools. Or any. Besides my brush, toothbrush, toothpaste, conditioner, shampoo, and hair bands, I really didn't need anything. Or have anything.

I changed into a t-shirt and knee-high kakis before slipping on a pair of flip flops, before putting my hair up in a ponytail.

"Ready. Now can I ask a question?" I called as I walked to her room.

"Yes, honey." She said, grabbing the keys to the apartment once she'd slid on a pair of shoes. She held open the apartment door for me, and I put the duffle bags strap over my shoulder, grabbing a pair of tennis shoes and shoving them in my bag before leaving.

"Where are we going?" I asked as she locked the door. She hailed a taxi, and as it pulled up, she turned to me, putting her arm around my shoulder and rubbing it slowly as she turned back to the road. She sighed, pursing her lips.

"Camp Half-Blood."

A/N

Thank you for the reviews! :) Review or PM me, I just want some feedback, whether its positive, negative or neutral. Or just hateful. Whatever, if you think it can be improved, then tell me how.

Thanks for reading!

-Ash Colored Wings


	3. Chapter 3

I slid in next to her as mom gave them the address, and the word 'Strawberry Fields' stuck out. So a camp that was in strawberry fields.

"A-a camp? For crazy people?" I asked in a hushed voice, frowning slightly up at her as the driver sighed at the prospect of what I now guessed to be a long drive, because it was at least a half hour to the outskirts of New York City, where any farm, camp or strawberry field would be.

"No, honey. It's a camp for people… people like you." She said, and I slumped in my seat. Yup, I was going to a camp for crazies.

"I know she was real though, I'm not crazy. She was there. I _know_ she was." I said, and she nodded.

"I believe you. I know she was there too. But this camp is for other children of the gods, other demi-gods." She said, and I raised an eyebrow. Really? Was she really shipping me off to the loony bin and say it's for children of the Greek gods? I could imagine that going well.

_Hello, I'm here to meet the other demi-gods. You may have heard of me, I'm the child of Zeus, ruler of the skies. Tell me, have any of you seen my satyr?_

Yeah, okay, I probably wouldn't say that. Zeus was really the only Greek God I could remember right now, but I remembered he had a wife because I saw her in the Disney movie 'Hercules', I just didn't know her name. A part of me really wanted to believe the Greek gods did exist, to explain why I'd never met my father because he'd left a week after I was born. The logical side of my brain told me that they didn't, and that my dad had left because he didn't want to deal with having a kid.

We didn't talk to each other for the remainder of the car ride, in which I mostly thought about where I was going, instead of pondering about my father and why'd he left. I knew my mom. She wouldn't send me off to a place where she thought I didn't absolutely need to go.

"This is it." The cab driver said as he rolled to a stop at the foot of a hill, a large pine tree at the top, "Are you sure you want to get out here? Doesn't look like much." He asked, looking around the area.

"No, sir. Thank you. This should be enough, keep the change." She said, handing him two one hundred dollar bills from her wallet. He took them and held them to the light to check that they were real before nodding to my mom.

"Whatever you want." He said, and mom closed the door behind her. He made a u-turn before speeding back towards New York City.

"Uh, mom. Whoever gave you these directions might have been a little bit off…" I said, and before she had a chance to answer a loud screech filled the sky, making my ears ring.

I looked for the source of the noise, to see a flock of… shiny birds? The sun glinted off of them, making it hard to really make them out. Before I could try and figure out what they were, my mom began tugging me up the hill.

"Hurry, Cameron!" She said, and I stumbled slightly before I began to run because I could hear how frantic she sounded. Beyond the hill was what looked like a small village with people walking around and at least twenty good sized buildings, and I turned back to see my mother facing the birds, which I now realized were metal, with sharp beaks and claws (A/N if any of you have read The Demigod Files, imagine the birds that were attacking Clarisse).

"HELP! SOMEONE HELP!" I screamed, and the motion in the camp stopped as people paused to look towards me. A few older teenagers began running my way, while others headed to a large, white house, "MOM! Come on! There are people coming to help! Come on!" I pleaded, but she shook her head, slowly turning around as the birds steadily caught up.

"Honey, I've only been here because I needed to stay with you, because I needed to protect you. But now, you have your father to help you. Cameron, I love you, and I love your father." She said, smiling as she cocked her head at me, wiping a tear from her face, "Smile, Cameron." She said, and the birds finally caught up.

That was the last time I saw my mother.

A/N

I tried not to make the scene too cheesy, but I don't think I really nailed it. This chapter was a bit shorter, but I'll make up for it by making the next chapters longer.

Thanks for the reviews, again! Once again, I want feedback, whether it's positive or negative. So, review or PM me, and I'll answer any questions you have.

Next chapter, a 12-year-old Percy comes in! Keep checking back for updates.

-Ash Colored Wings


	4. Chapter 4

**Two Years Later**

"To Hermes." I muttered as I pushed into the fire a good serving of sausage and steamed vegetables from my plate. I made it back to my table, sitting down across from Travis and Connor, who were watching the Aphrodite cabin with wide, toothy grins that meant something bad was about to happen.

"What this time?" I asked as a loud boom of thunder shook the ground, and I repeated the question so they'd hear me.

"You'll see." Travis shared a smirk with Connor, both taking a sip of their drink in sync. I swear, they could be photocopies of each other if they didn't wear different clothes.

"Whatever. Did anyone get claimed tonight?" I asked, and Connor shook his head, not taking his eyes of Silena Beauregard, who was the first of the Aphrodite cabin to sit down. As soon as she sat down, a loud crackling noise filled the room, and Silena's usually perfectly bouncy blond hair immediately frizzed up into an afro, and her makeup disappearing. She tentatively lifted a hand up to feel her hair, letting out a shriek when she felt her hair.

"Guys! I can't believe you did that. Silena's one of the nicest people in the Aphrodite cabin." I said, but as I looked at her, I couldn't stop the snort I let out when I looked back at her and her other siblings, who had all rushed to help her. Who ever touched the table got the same treatment.

"Whoever did this, " Chiron paused to give the Hermes table a long glance, which I let out an indignant shout at, "Should confess now, and they will get a minimum punishment, which will only grow for each day that passes and they do not confess. Thank you." He said, before sitting back down and beginning to eat again.

"If anyone frames me I'll snitch on you two." I said, taking a bite of sausage. Basically all the campers knew that one of the Aphrodite campers, Jessie, and me didn't exactly mix, and I had my fair share of pranks and she had her fair share of hissy fits.

"Your no fun." Travis said, but was still smirking at their victory.

"One day you're going to get caught, you know. You should really stop pulling pranks." Kelly said in her 'logical' voice. She was an undecided camper who we were all pretty sure was a daughter of Athena. She'd only came last week and was only nine, so she had time.

"The day they stop pulling pranks is the day Zues becomes ruler of the Underworld." Luke said, smiling slightly as he chewed his 'Greek' pizza, which was the only kind of pizza Luke would eat, which I was pretty sure due to the fact that it was ironic, rather then because it tasted good. A boom of thunder louder then the rest shook the ground, causing most of our table, undecided or not, to grin while Kelly and another undecided camper, Hayden, looked worried.

"I think I'm past due for another Camp Half-Blood shirt, mine got all ripped up from the last game of capture the flag… who else would like to accompany me while I retrieve it? Perhaps as a look-out…?" I asked, grinning. I didn't have any money besides the money I'd inherited from my mom, which I wouldn't get to actually use until I'm eighteen, so it wasn't like I could buy a new one.

"I'd wait till tomorrow. They just got a new alarm system." Luke said, and I nodded, sighing.

The rest of dinner past faster, and soon, we were making our way back to the cabins to go to sleep. As I was about to slip into my bunk, I remembered something. I'd left my bow and arrows at the archery fields, and I'd planned to get them before dinner, but I'd forgotten.

I slipped out the door once I told Luke where I was going, finding my white bow and matching quiver easily. I slung them on my back and was about to go back to my cabin when I saw a dark shape stumbling down the hill, calling out for his mother in a mourning fashion, as if he'd just lost her. As I looked closer, I could make out the shape of a smaller boy, carrying someone. Perhaps his mother?

I ran to the Big House, quickly knocking. Annabeth Chase, a twelve-year-old daughter of Athena, arrived at the same time as me, probably having seen the boy also.

"Chiron! Chiron!" We called, pounding on the door frantically.

"Yes?" He asked as he opened the door, raising an eyebrow when he saw me.

"There's a boy, most likely a demi-god, he's hurt and he's carrying a satyr, who appears to be unconscious. We need to help him." Annabeth said before I could. But the boy was close now, and he collapsed as he reached the wooden porch. We tugged him and the satyr up onto the porch, and Annabeth looked determined but stern.

"He's the one. He has to be." She said as Chiron and her leaned over the boy, whose eyes were blearily opened, yet he looked like he was about to pass out. I'd say he ranged from eleven to thirteen, and he had black hair with sea-foam green eyes, and tanned skin. I didn't want to say it, but he looked like what I'd bet a son of Poseidon would look like, since I'd seen Poseidon in books and they had definite similarities.

"Silence, Annabeth." Chiron said, "He's still conscious. Bring him inside." He said, just as the boy passed out. Way to jinx it, Chiron.

Annabeth and I carried the satyr in first, laying him in one of the many guest rooms in the Big House. I recognized him from seeing him around camp, and Annabeth said his name was Grover. When we came back to the boy, Annabeth gasped.

"Look at that… it's the horn of a…" She trailed off, looking at the boys' hand, which clenched a horn in it. I gaped when I saw it. He was holding the horn of a Minotaur, which basically meant he'd been killing a Minotaur while we'd been eating dinner. But… _how_? He couldn't be older then thirteen.

"We can't do anything now. Lets clean him up and give him some nectar or something." I said, and she nodded, biting her lip. She looked like she wanted to explode with questions. I put the horn on his stomach so it wouldn't fall while we were carrying him, and we picked him up and put him in the room next to Grovers.

"Can you go get a wet cloth? I'll get the nectar and ambrosia." I asked, putting my bow and quiver down. She nodded, running out the door to get them. Getting a bit of nectar and ambrosia from the cupboard in the kitchen, I returned to see Annabeth already wiping his dirtied face. I smiled as I saw how gentle she was, before walking in and setting the nectar and ambrosia down on the side table.

"Are you good with taking care of him until we can have an Apollo camper come in and look at him?" I asked, and she nodded, not really looking at me.

"Thanks." She said, and I nodded, shouldering my bow and quiver. After pretending to leave, I quietly walked back to watch Annabeth, grinning when I saw her smile slightly at him as continued to clean his face. Well, my, my, my. I believe I see a little crush forming. Whatever, Annabeth, of all people, would never admit to having a crush on someone.

The smirk didn't leave my face for the most part as I walked back to my cabin, until a harpy began to chase me, cackling about how it was going to be eating a demi-god, and I had to run the whole way back to cabin, which made the whole cabin wake up when I slammed the door.

"New camper here, and he killed a minotaur! I swear- " Luke began talking, effectively cutting me off, as everyone began to talk.

"Go back to bed! You can gossip about it later, little girls." He said, quieting everyone. Travis imitated him from where he was on a top-bunk, doing a z-snap as Luke walked back to his bed, causing a few kids to snicker.

I quickly changed in the dark before climbing into my bed, my smirk returning as I remembered Annabeth and the new boy. Something is going to happen between those two, I just know it.

A/N

As I promised, this was a longer chapter, and I thank those of you who have subscribed and reviewed this story.

But, as I say basically every chapter, I want feedback. I know my stories not perfect, because I barely ever go back to edit it, so if its those typos or grammar problems that are what's holding you back from reviewing, PM me so I can fix them.

Thanks for reading :)

-Ash Colored Wings


	5. Chapter 5

There was good news, and bad news. I'll tell you the bad news first.

The bad news was that the boy, who Grover (who'd recovered the morning following their arrival) had told us was named 'Percy Jackson', still hadn't been seen after three days. Well, he'd been seen when they'd put him out on the deck of the Big House to get some fresh air, but Chiron told us we'd get kitchen duty if we tried pressuring him for questions about his run in with the minotaur. Of course, there was already crazy gossip (mostly from the Aphrodite cabin) about him, but I didn't bother listening to it, since I knew no one except Percy and Grover knew the whole story (I was unsure of Grover even, since he'd been unconscious when they came).

The good news was that Kelly had been claimed yesterday by Athena, though she still came back and visited us during activities to talk to us and fill us in on all the details about her new half-siblings and what she was learning (apparently the Athena cabin had their own personal activity where they just study.).

It was around noon when Kelly ran up to the volleyball pit, where some of the older campers and I (I guess I'm also now an 'older camper' though I still look like I'm 12 rather then 14) were teamed up against the satyrs.

"A-Annabeth just, she just told me that-" Her words were rushed, and I think I was the only one that understood, since I was closest.

"Slow down, Kelly, and repeat it again." I said, smiling slightly at the younger girl. She huffed, pushing a few strings of her light brown hair behind her ear before beginning again.

"Percy Jackson is up, and he'll be sleeping in cabin 11 tonight." She shouted, and I grinned.

"Good job, my large-brained fellow camper. Now run along. Go paint a picture or something." I said, and she pouted, which I grinned at, "Just kidding. Want to play with us?" I asked, and she brightened considerably before pouting again.

"I would, but Malcolm said he wanted me to help him with some blue-prints he's working on..." She said, and I nodded, "Bye Cameron! Bye Connor!" She got an indignant shout from Travis for that, something about him not being said good-bye to before Connor, "Good-bye Travis! Good-bye people!" She yelled before running back towards the cabins.

We returned to the game, and about ten minutes passed before Percy Jackson began walking down the hill with Chiron. When he passed us, we paused in playing, and a rude girl, the daughter of Ares I believe, whispered about him, loud enough that he could probably hear.

"C'mon, lets play. You can gossip about him later." A satyr said, then muttered something about rude demi-gods and humans.

I could tell Percy felt uncomfortable, and I felt a bit bad for him, but I knew Chiron didn't like me the most right now (I'd _accidentally_ tripped Jessie, who, if you don't remember, is another word for a female dog from the Aphrodite cabin, on the way to drop our portions into the fire, making her fall into a few other campers in line) and I wasn't about to tag along.

They continued on towards the strawberry fields, and we returned to the game.

"Hey, no ones guarding the camp shop right now… whose up for a raid?" I asked, grinning. Travis and Connor immediately raised their hand, while the other campers and Satyr's rolled their eyes. Man, what a bunch of losers they are... Am I right? Heh heh... no? Not funny?... Nevermind...

"Can you get me some bug spray?" Someone yelled, and anyone in the Hermes cabin who were present mock gasped, and we all faced the camper, who was a now blushing son of Dionysus, Castor.

"Thou ask what cannot be done. All those who wish for a stolen item must steal it themselves. As states Rule 25, section…" Jacob, one of my brothers about a year or two older then me, trailed off, frowning.

"Psst… section 1. Each rule only has one section…" Jimmy, one of my younger brothers, whispered, a large grin on his face. We didn't actually have a rulebook, but its fun to imagine we did.

After getting caught by Justin, an older Apollo camper who had been guarding (also called being the cashier, a job that no one in the Hermes cabin was ever offered) the shop with ninja skills, and no one had seen him. I decided just to steal someone's shirt in my cabin. If anyone noticed, they'd just say it was Travis or something and get over it.

I jogged back to the Hermes cabin, and I could see Chiron giving Percy a tour, and they were currently at Zeus and Hera's twin cabins. My cabin, which seemed to have all the cabin 11 campers in it but the campers who were playing volleyball, was stuffed, so I had a hard time getting to my bunk. Most of Hermes kids automatically get one, while the undecided will be put in any empty bunks, and if there are none, the floor. When I did, I quickly grabbed my bottle of never-ending red nail polish, a gift from Aphrodite (apparently Jessie had been annoying her when I'd pulled a prank on her), from under the mattress (I had bottom bunk) and hoped no one saw me getting it.

Unscrewing the top, I put a small layer on my thumb, before screwing it back up and putting the bottle where it had been. But, you see, this wasn't actually nail polish. It could, one, become a weapon if I needed it, two, make me invisible. I blew on my thumb, wishing to become invisible, and just like that, I was. But the thing was, depending on how much nail polish you have, the time that your unseen varies. Right now, I probably had around five minutes. I looked around for any Camp Half-Blood shirts, but I didn't see any. As I turned, a tip of a neon orange shirt caught my eye, and I grinned.

It turns out it was extremely easy to get it, disappointingly so, probably since it belonged to Bryce, an undecided camper who was never in the cabin, and always out at the training area (we suspected he was a son of Ares).

By the time the shirt was safe, zipped away in my Disney duffle which was also safe, Percy was outside, ready to get settled in. I wouldn't have usually noticed if someone had come in, but the whole cabin got quiet. When I saw he was with Annabeth, I couldn't help the Cheshire cat grin that stretched my lips.

"Well? Go on." I could hear Annabeth say. Just as he was coming up, he tripped, and I couldn't help but snicker as he blushed.

"Percy Jackson, meet cabin 11." Annabeth said.

"Regular or undetermined?" Hayden, an undetermined camper herself, called from her bunk.

"Undetermined." Annabeth said while Percy looked a bit confused. I rolled my eyes as everyone groaned. Would he really be coming in and introducing himself if he was determined? You might say 'He could be another son of Hermes' but believe me, he wasn't. Don't ask. I just know. It's like a sixth sense... Or seventh sense?Gods, sometimes I felt like I should be in the Aphrodite cabin... Plus, the kids of Hermes tended to have lighter hair, and while I'm sure it was possible that we could have dark hair, only a few of us ever had, and the only one I knew was Chris Rodriguez, but even he looked like a child of Hermes, since he had the trademark features (upturned eyebrows, sharp noses, generally elfish features, similar to a nymphs, etc.).

"Now, now, campers. That's what we're here for. Welcome, Percy. You can have that spot on the floor, right over there." Luke said, and I grinned.

"This is Luke," Annabeth said, and after that I tuned out, while Annabeth told Percy that Luke was our counselor (and his, until he's claimed), and Luke explained about why Hermes cabin was where undecided campers went. I pushed past them to get out, since the cabin was feeling a bit too stuffy for my taste.

I was going to go by the lake to get some air (any period of time longer then five minutes, besides sleeping, that I spent in my cabin left me wanting to get some air. It was like that for most of us, because of our ADHD), and had just passing the Apollo cabin, running around the corner of the bright golden cabin when I ran into someone, causing us both to fall backwards. I groaned and stood back up, my butt hurting.

"You're a daughter of Hermes, right?" A camper that I didn't know the name of, but was vaguely sure he was a son of Apollo, asked. He had a bowl cut head of light blond hair that I was sure he got teased about a lot, bright sky blue eyes and tanned skin, probably about my age, if not a little older.

"Yeah. Cameron Nenuphar, proud daughter of Hermes. Son of Apollo?" I inquired, and he nodded, smiling as he gestured to the bow and quiver he had swung around in shoulder, both of which had sun markings on them, a sign of Apollo.

"Kind of self explanatory." He said, and I shrugged, "I'm Will Solace, proud son of Apollo." He said, mocking me with a perky tone.

"...Up for a friendly game, Will? Its called Kill the Annoying Son of the Sun God. Everyone says it's simply _fantastic_."

A/N

Thanks for reading! Up until now I've been meaning to introduce Will Solace, but haven't seen any chances. I know Will doesn't have a bowl cut in the books, but Percy doesn't really mention him in the first book, so I just made it up.

Hope you enjoyed, and for the millionth time, please leave some form of feedback so I know what you think!

-Ash Colored Wings


	6. Chapter 6

Turns out Will _didn't_ want to be killed. In fact, right after he rebounded with a 'Kill a daughter of Hermes' joke, he left to go to his cabin. He said he had important business to take care of, but for some reason… I doubt that.

So, instead of going to the lake as I thought I was going to, I went directly back to my cabin. I got a medium sized packet of concentrated orange dye, and watered it down until it would fill up half of a small bucket. Using the gifts of incredible awesome ninja skills I'd inherited from my father, I climbed the Apollo cabin, and sat right above the door. As you might have guessed, the metal sheet that was on top of the roof (they had problems with leaks when Zues was mad at Apollo) was incredibly hot when heated by the sun, and after about ten minutes, my calves were beginning to burn.

I groaned at how much pain my calves were in, just as an Apollo camper left. Without waiting to see who it was, I threw the bucket on them. I blinked as a girly shriek rang out, nearby birds scattering from the trees.

I peered down, to see Michael Yew glaring up at me.

"Get down here right now, Nenuphar, so I can rip your blond hair out." He hissed, orange dye dripping from his hair and clothes, everything but his eyes orange (judging from the clean skin around his eyes, he probably wiped them). I couldn't help the childish grin that stretched my lips into a wide smile.

"You can't make me. Plus, I believe my hair color is classified as 'Delectable dirty Blond', not 'blond'." I said, throwing down the bucket, aiming for his head. But him, being… who he was, sidestepped it. When his nostrils flared, I knew he was mad. Within a few seconds, he had drawn an arrow and aimed, before letting the arrow fly. Whether Apollo had aided him because he was mad at me for climbing his cabin and throwing a bucket of dye on his son, or Michael was just naturally awesome at archery, the arrow pierced my shoulder. The unexpected force of the arrow, which could have easily shot across the length of three football fields, threw me back against the cabin.

For a moment, I was caught in the split second when my brain hadn't yet realized I'd been shot, but that moment passed as quickly as it had lasted, about a split second. My vocals seemed to immediately react, and I let out a cry that sounded strangled, even to my ears.

My shoulder throbbed, and with each second that passed, I felt more and more of the pain that encompassed my upper right torso. I grimaced, knowing I had to get down if I wanted the pain to go away. I kept my eyes closed as I inched to the edge, and when I got to it, I used my left arm to grab onto the side of the damned cabin. I leapt out, my hand tightly gripping onto the side, and when my arm was fully extending, I dropped.

By now, Lee Fletcher, counselor of the Apollo cabin, had come out. He gave me a square of ambrosia, which he told me to wait to eat until he ripped the arrow out.

"One… two… three!" He yelled, and I quickly ate the ambrosia, the wound already feeling enflamed by the time it reached my mouth. The ambrosia soothed it quickly, and now it was only a dull throb. I glared at Michael, who was pleading with Chiron, repeatedly pointing back to his orange skin. I don't know if intense pain makes me weird or I'm just naturally strange, but this made me grin.

"…Are you sure that was ambrosia?" Lee said after a moment, and the boy besides him nodded. I realized it was Will, and I frowned at him.

"The bucket of orange dye was meant for you." I said, and he raised an eyebrow.

"Well, next time make sure its me so you won't get shot in the shoulder. Or better yet, don't make there a next time." He said, and I rolled my eyes as I stood up, ignoring how dizzy I felt.

"I thank you from the darkest graveyard of my heart, Lee. I'm going to go… eat." I said, but Lee quickly grabbed my wrist.

"You do still have a hole in your shoulder, you know." He said, and I glanced at my shoulder.

"…Oh." Was my intelligent reply, "Well, work those magic fingers so I can get a move on." I said, sitting back down. He arched an eyebrow at me, before shaking his head as if telling himself 'She's naturally that way, don't feel sorry'… well, maybe. Probably.

"Right." He said, before taking a deep breath as his hands hovered above my wound. My skin crawled and tingled, and all around, it felt weird. No other way to describe it, since it was no where close to being painful. Wait… there was a good side to this… there has to be. It took me a few moments, but then I figured it out. I got my first battle wound.

"Thanks Lee-ah. Leah. If you had been a girl, do you think your parents would have named you Leah?" I asked, but he didn't answer, instead standing up and going back to his cabin, probably to take a nap, "Never mind! I totally didn't care anyways!" I called, before looking at Will, who seemed to be pondering life's meaning, or some other useless crap like that, "What's your little brain getting constipated over this time?" I asked, and he looked to me, ignoring my insult. But instead of staring like a creepy stalker, he seemed to analyze me.

"How can you be so suave about this? You just got _shot_ in the shoulder. Shouldn't you be, I don't know, in shock or something?" He asked, and I shrugged.

"I just gained a super cool battle scar, and a story to tell all the new campers to scare them so they never pull pranks on anyone! I shall reign supreme while the others cower beneath my-" I stopped my rant of my awesomeness as Chiron trotted up, Michael stalking behind him, his shoulders slumped.

"You both have wronged each other, and Michael now realizes that two wrongs do not create a right. Neither of you will be punished, for what you have received is worse enough." He said, and I swear my eyes nearly bulged out of my head.

"He friggin _shot_ me for touching his pretty skin! Don't you think that's a little-" Again, I was stopped mid-sentence by Chiron.

"Extreme, yes. But I have reason to believe the it was partly caused by Apollo, for it is highly improbable that he would just let you climb his cabin and dye his son orange with no punishment." He said, and I frowned, not liking how much he made sense.

"…Alright then. I'm out. Accompany me, Will, while I proclaim my awesomeness to the world of Cabin 11." I said, and he shrugged and smiled.

"Don't have anything better to do." He said shrugging, but just as we were half way across the courtyard to cabin 11, Chiron seemed to notice the Will had left.

"Will! I need you to run a few experiments on Michael, since Lee's tired." He called, and I groaned loudly.

"Must he ruin everything?" I muttered as Will said a quick good-bye before jogging back to Chiron and Michael. Dumb Yew. Haha, its like I'm saying 'Dumb You', instead of calling Michael dumb… yeah, that wasn't that funny… Never mind….

"Travis! Connor! DUDES!" I yelled as I approached the cabin. My shirt was still stained with blood, so I'd have to change anyways before we went to dinner.

"They're not here! I think their down at the store!" Someone yelled. Eh, I'd tell the twins later. I walked in, striking a pose. No gasps or whispers burst out, so I looked at the campers. None were looking at me. Instead, they seemed to believe their _social lives _were more important then my freaking shoulder wound. As if.

"Come on! Look at that! Do you see what I'm seeing, because if you were, I'm pretty sure you'd be praising me or something." I said, and most of the campers glanced up. Silence, "Not fake blood! I actually just got shot by an Apollo camper!" I said, grinning widely, "Seriously, my first battle wound and I didn't even have to leave camp to get it! How awesome am I?" I smirked as I strutted over to my bed.

Most of them rolled their eyes and returned to their dull lives that they seemed to think were more interesting then my shoulder, and Luke stood from where he was having a conversation with newbie Percy Jackson.

"I seriously can't tell if you're kidding. Are you?" He asked, and I smiled widely.

"Dude, does this look like it's kidding? 'Cause I don't think it does. I think that looks like some legit blood." I said, gesturing to my shoulder with my left hand. My right shoulder was still kind of sore. You want to know why? 'Cause it just got shot by an arrow. That's why.

"…I don't want to know how that happened." He said, right before the dinner horn blew, "Eleven, fall in!" He yelled, and I walked by him as we headed to the mess hall, deciding not to change some everyone could see how awesome I am.

"Don't you think that line's a tad bit cheesy?" I said, using my index finger and thumb to demonstrate 'tad', "This is camp, not boot camp. Or anything similar. You know, actually it is a bit similar to boot camp, 'cause we train, but still-" I paused when Luke raised his finger in the universal sign of 'Be quiet'.

"Shut up, Cameron. I'd prefer to keep my ears as they are."

A/N

Well, I hope you enjoyed! I was kind of tired when I wrote this, so if you notice more mistakes then unusual, thats why. After its posted, I'll usually go back to edit if I read it and find mistakes, but if you see any I didn't find, PM/review and tell me, please. Thank you! :]

-Ash Colored Wings


	7. Chapter 7

The next few days were uneventful, and soon I forgot about Percy Jackson, besides when I talked to him at dinner and trained with him. He was all right, with a good sense of humor, but I couldn't quite pinpoint him as any of the gods' son, since he'd told me that he knew his mother, so it would be one of the males.

He wasn't Ares' son, not beefy or aggressive enough. He wasn't Dionysus' son, because one, he would've been claimed by now, two, Dionysus didn't even know his name, and three, he bore no resemblance. Not Apollo, since he was as good at a bow as Clarisse from the Ares cabin. Not Hephaestus, since he sucked at metalworking.

Taking off those four, that left all the male minor gods and the other four male Olympians. But I doubt he was a son of a minor god, since, after all, his demi-god scent was strong enough to bring a fury (he'd told us about Ms. Dodds, a teacher at his old school who was actually Alecto of the Kindly Ones) and a Minotaur, both of which he had slain.

That left us with Hermes and the Big Three. It was possible he's a son of Hermes, but really, I doubt it. He wasn't into stealing, pranks or raids, nor was a he good with a bow, four of the most obvious signs of a child of Hermes. None of us were naturally amazing with a bow, like Apollo's children, but we were all okay, at the very least.

So, that left the Big Three. Not Hades, definitely. He barely wore black (as in it wasn't a casual thing, though he would wear it without complaint, unlike Aphrodite campers); he wasn't really a loner, and didn't seem the type to hang in shadowy corners talking about death.

Zeus and Poseidon are all that's left then, and he was definitely a son of one of them, though I was leaning toward Poseidon, since Percy seemed best when he was on the water canoeing, and a son of Zeus' canoe would probably be tipped over by a naiad doing Poseidon's commands, or maybe by Poseidon himself. With my newfound discovery, I decided to inform Chiron.

I ditched my sweaty armor and sword, making sure it was unseen in the protection of a bush so no one would steal it. I jogged towards the Big House, where Chiron would most likely be. As I passed the other campers, I could tell they were all riled up for the game of Capture the Flag tonight, and made sure to give the training area where the Ares cabin was training a wide berth, so as not to get hit by a stray axe, spear, mace or javelin. Or any combination there of, since I wouldn't put it past them to label me a 'moving target', and bet on who could hit me first.

"Oh, Chiron, where are thou?" I sang as I approached the porch of the Big House, were Chiron and Mr. D were playing cards. He didn't look up from his set of cards, which, by the way, I could see were a very good set of cards, as I approached.

"Yes, Cameron?" He asked, and I smiled somewhat as I jumped up onto the porch, drawing up a chair. Since my mom died, I didn't really have anyone looking out for me (my dad didn't count, since I'd never seen him in my life, and, besides when he claimed me, he'd shown no sign he ever noticed me), I'd begun thinking of Chiron as a sort of second, closer dad.

"You know Percy Jackson, the newbie?" I asked, and his attention was successfully drawn from the game. Mr. D groaned, conjuring a diet coke while he muttered about 'moronic demi-gods thinking they know something'. Chiron nodded, and I took a deep breath before glancing at the lake, knowing if I offended Poseidon, I was more then likely to be drowned in it.

"Well, I was thinking, Percy fits exactly the description of that of the son of the… the god of the… err, sea." I said, trying to avoid the name 'Poseidon', "Really, there's no question about it." I said, leaning back as I watched their expressions carefully. Both looked slightly nervous, but Chiron seemed thoughtful at the same time.

"You should be more careful with your words, Cameron, or you might offend the gods one of these days. But I have put thought into it also, and that seems to be the most reasonable explanation." He said, sounding more tired and weary then usual. If Percy were to be a son of Poseidon, we knew there would be a break in the peace that we'd had lately. Percy would most likely be assassinated before his sixteenth birthday, because of the prophecy, "Now, Cameron, we will deal with this later. Go back to your class, I need to go collect a few things for the Capture the Flag game tonight." He said, standing.

"Get a lot of bandages!" I grinned, before jogging back towards the sparring area. Chiron was right; we'd deal with it when we came to it.

The rest of the day passed without pause, and soon, we were finishing up with dinner. My team was made up of Apollo, Athena and Hermes, and seemed to be the bigger then the opposing team, which were the other nine cabins, even though we were only three cabins.

We all stood as the conch horn sounded, and first, three kids, one of them Annabeth Chase, from the Athena cabin ran in with a silvery flag from one side, before the three from the Ares cabin ran in with blood red flag from the opposite side.

Before I knew it, I was in full body armor, Cutthroat, my celestial bronze blade strapped at my side. It wasn't quite a full sized blade, but not short enough to be called a dagger. I carried my blue plumed helmet at my side until I got into position at the river, ready to dash into enemy territory.

The helmet was on my head and Cutthroat was drawn by the time the conch blew, and I bounded across the river. Within seconds, I met three Aphrodite campers, who seemed to be whispering about how dirty their shoes were getting. I sheathed Cutthroat as they ran at me, deciding to do it bare handed since I had a bad habit of stabbing people accidently. I think I've stabbed about seven people while playing, all on accident. Honestly, there were all accidents, but no one ever believes me.

"Oh, Jessie!" I grinned when I saw she was one of the three. I realized I hadn't really though about her for the past week, and for that, I was thankful.

While the other two backed up, she glared, putting her red-plumed helmet on. Without waiting for her to unsheathe her metallic-pink dagger, I attacked. Well, a simpler term for my actions would be _tackled_, since I knew that was the easiest way to get an Aphrodite camper to surrender. None of them liked getting dirty.

I pinned her down after a few seconds, and gave her a quick knock to the head, and she was off like a light. I stood up, and the other two girls were glancing between Jessie and I.

"Who's next?" I couldn't resist the cheesy line, but it did its work, and the girls dropped their shields and helmet (which they didn't put on because it would mess up their hair), squealed and ran off. I smirked, before remembering I was supposed to be distracting the flag guarders so Luke could steal the flag. Right, should probably get to that.

I rushed towards the part of the forest where the higher trees were, where everyone knew the Ares campers hid their flag somewhere within. True enough, within five minutes of scouting the area, I saw two campers, a son and daughter of Ares. Out of the corner of my eye, I could see Luke and two of my brothers at ready behind some bushes. As you can see, operation: 'Capture the Flag' was left to the Hermes campers, while Athena strategized and guarded our boundaries, and the Apollo cabin was spread out among the forest.

I ran forward, and after snapping a few twigs purposefully (I was the daughter of the God of thieves, which obviously means I can be stealthy if I want to. But hey, Ares campers aren't paid to _think_, now are they?), I caught their attention. The girl pointed at me, whispering to her brother before getting into defensive positions.

"Hey, dumb-stuff. Bet I can get the flag in two seconds flat, if I tried." I said, grinning as I bounced on the balls of my feet. They watched me with careful eyes, which changed to glaring as soon as they comprehended what I'd said.

"Do you? And I bet I could stick you in one second flat, if _I _tried." The girl said, smirking at what she thought was a good insult. You see, only Ares campers would get insulted if you said you could kill them faster then they could kill you. But for Hermes campers, it's more like who can steal the most loot without being caught, or pull the biggest prank, so I wasn't really insulted.

I unsheathed my sword, and began circling them. As my back was to the flag (again, their not paid to think), I wrenched it from the ground and threw it in Luke's direction, so when the Ares kids grabbed me by each arm, probably planning to shake me till I dropped it, they grinned at each other.

"Bet you were-hey!" The boy broke off with a yell as he saw Luke's hand shoot out and snatch the flag, before there was a rustling as he sped off, back towards our side.

"Ha!" I grinned, knocking my head into each of their equally helmeted heads, causing them to loosen their grips, which gave me enough time to bolt, running after Luke and his two guards, so I could cut off any who tried coming from behind.

But, it seemed I didn't need to, since the Hephaestus campers came in by the sides, and Apollo campers, who were stationed in the low branches of trees close to the river, in case anything like this happened, jumped down, running backwards as they fought them. I sped up to catch up with them as the other, opposing campers closed in, and the river neared.

But it was too easy, and we cleared the river. I cheered along with the others as the red flag turned silver, a huge caduceus, one of the signs of Hermes, on it.

After about five minutes of all of us cheering like idiots (our side, that it), a loud growl seeming to belong to a canine sounded, followed by an even louder howl, and we all quieted instantly. I was about to crack a joke about it when a huge hellhound leapt forward. Chiron began yelling in Greek while the rest of us drew our swords, but it was too no use.

The hellhound leapt, straight over Annabeth, and right in Percy, who I realized it had been staring at the whole time. Of _course_! Hades had sent him to kill Percy, because Poseidon had broken the pact! The Apollo campers still in trees, who I'd thought had all came down, immediately released arrows, and about fifteen arrows zeroed in on its neck, killing it instantly.

I realized Percy must've been hurt, but he still stood, the hellhound at his feet. Chiron trotted up to him, his unused bow in his hand.

"_Di immortales_!" Annabeth said, "That's a hellhound from the Fields of Punishment. They don't… they're not supposed to…" She trailed off, at an obvious lack of words. The other campers seemed to be catching along, and a few Aphrodite campers gasped, while the others simply looked shocked. Since hellhounds couldn't leave the Underworld without either being sent or being summoned, that meant we either had a traitorous camper or an angry god.

After Chiron announced someone in camp must've summoned it, Clarisse immediately blamed Percy, but most likely only because he had humiliated her by dunking her head in a toilet, or so Jimmy, my younger brother had told me (he was basically the Hermes cabins source of news and gossip, since he was friends with an Aphrodite kid).

Chiron shushed Clarisse, and the hellhound melted into shadow, and then Annabeth said something that proved she was a daughter of Athena.

"You're wounded. Quick, Percy, get in the water." I grinned widely, realizing she had caught on and knew Percy was the son of Poseidon, like Chiron and I had.

"I'm ok." He argued, but it was obvious he wasn't.

"No, you're not. Chiron, watch this." She said, and I inched closer. Percy sighed, looking as if he didn't have the energy to argue, and stepped into the water. My eyes were drawn from his healing wounds as a glowing green trident appeared above his head, and, even though I suspected he was a son of Poseidon all along, it was a different thing all together to have it proven.

I rolled my eyes as Percy tried apologizing, and I smiled slightly at Chiron for figuring it out beforehand. I got down onto one knee, the first of the campers. Percy looked at me confused, as Annabeth muttered something. I smiled reassuringly at him, nodding. It wasn't good that Percy could be the child of the Great Prophecy and victim to hate from some of the gods, but, in the days I'd known Percy, I'd come to like him (as a friend). I wouldn't let a little thing like his blood get in the way of that.

"It is determined." Chiron announced, and the other campers slowly also kneeled. Annabeth must've said something to Percy, because he looked bewildered

"My father?" He asked, his face contorted as he looked at her questioningly.

"Poseidon," Chiron said loud enough for us all to hear, "Earthshaker, stormbringer, Father of Horses. Hail, Percy Jackson, son of the Sea God."

Percy looked like he was going to faint.

A/N

Okay, first of all, this may seem like it's going to be an OC insert story, but its not. This chapter was longer then usual, but hopefully it wasn't boring. My stories seem to get that way sometimes.

Review please, or PM me and give me some feedback! I am in need of some, if you want this story to be improved!

Thanks for all the reviews and story alerts, and thanks for reading! :)

-Ash Colored Wings


	8. Chapter 8

To say the least, the next few days were… dull. Everyone avoided Percy, and, while I usually _like _to do my own thing, I've always been a sucker for peer pressure. Really, if I don't have someone backing me up, I most likely wont do it.

But when I heard that Percy had gotten a quest, I knew that it was more then likely he wasn't coming back. I pondered giving him my never-ending bottle of magical red nail polish, but decided he'd be too proud to use it anyway. Instead, I grabbed a steel dagger from my bag, slipping it into its sheath. It had been dipped in celestial bronze, so it was able to kill mortal and monster alike, much like Luke's sword _Backbiter_. I strapped it to my side, and was leaving just as Luke was, who was holding a pair of basketball shoes. I instantly recognized them as his winged shoes, a gift from our father.

"You're giving those to Percy?" I asked, since we were headed the same way.

"Yeah." He said, but something seemed a little… off. Like he was nervous. I shrugged inwardly, and when I saw Percy begin walking down the opposite side of the hill, I began to jog.

"C'mon, he's gonna leave without us." I said to Luke, who began running beside me, "Wait up!" I called when we got to the top of the hill.

After Luke presented Percy with his shoes, I gave him the sheath with the sword in it.

"Be careful with it. It can kill mortal and monster-alike. Also, since it belongs to me, once its taken out of its sheath it will return to me. So use it as a throwing knife or something, and don't worry about retrieving it." I said, and he nodded, smiling slightly, though I could tell he was a bit scared about the quest, "It'll be fine, dude! Loosen up, and be happy you got a quest." I said, smiling. But I knew I shouldn't be smiling. I should probably be getting the harpies to go clean out Cabin 3 since Percy's as good as gone.

**Three Days Later**

I was expecting to continue on with camp, awaiting news about the dead son of Poseidon, but nothing of the sort happened.

After dinner, Chiron had requested that I come to the Big House, because Dionysus and him had to talk to me. At first I'd thought someone had ratted me out for painting Dionysus bedroom in the Big House pink and blue, like cotton candy, but they didn't seem mad. Chiron seemed slightly sad, as if he knew what he was going to tell me wouldn't have a good outcome, while Dionysus looked bored, as always.

Chiron gave Dionysus a pointed look once I'd sat down, and Dionysus glanced at me before back at his wine magazine, sighing deeply as if I'd just asked him to run a marathon with me.

"Hermes has requested that you go to Olympus, Cassidy." He said, and I glanced at Chiron, raising an eyebrow, wondering if Dionysus was telling me what Chiron had meant him to, or just joking. I'd never even met my dad, and now he wants me to visit him?

"As soon as possible. Argus will take you to the Empire State Building tomorrow morning, before breakfast." Chiron said, and I could easily imagine my eyes looked like they were about to fall out of my head.

"M-me? Why?" I asked.

"You'll be going with Will Solace, of the Apollo cabin, and Jessica Godfrey, of the Aphrodite cabin. You've all been summoned by your Godly parents." He said, and I frowned. Jessie was going too? Shoot me now. Better yet, shoot Jessie, so I don't have to.

"Alright. Have you told them?" I asked, since none of them were here.

"They were told themselves by Apollo and Aphrodite." He said, and I frowned inwardly. Why couldn't Hermes have told me personally?

"Should I pack anything?" I asked, and if he noticed the change of subject, he didn't give anything indication.

"Probably an extra pair of clothes, your weapons and some ambrosia or nectar, in case you have a run in with monsters. I bid you good luck, Cameron." He said, and I thanked him before standing, walking back to my cabin slower then I usually would, since I was thinking about what was happening.

What, my dad had the time to make an Iris message with Chiron or Dionysus, tell them exactly what they'd just told me, but he was too busy to tell me the exact same thing?

I pushed the negative thoughts from my head as I changed into pajamas. I packed the things Chiron had suggested, an extra pair of clothes, my sword Cutthroat, my bottle of never-ending magic red nail polish, and a Ziploc bag of ambrosia.

I slipped into bed; rolling onto my side so I didn't have to look at the other campers, sound asleep. I traced the rough wood patterns on the wall for a few minutes, wondering again why the Hermes cabin was the only ordinary, plain cabin, just to get my mind off my pessimistic thoughts.

But don't I deserve to be a pessimist when the first time in my whole life that I'm going to meet my dad is just because he needs something done? He's never had the _time_ for me before, why should I give him my time so gratefully?

Once again, I pushed the negative thoughts out of my head. At least I was getting to meet him, right? At least half of my siblings had never met him either; so my situation was a lot better then theirs, since I at least was definitely going to meet him at some point in time. But even that didn't satisfy how angry I was feeling at my dad.

Instead of continuing to think of the pros and cons of this situation in an inner battle with myself, I stuffed my head under a pillow until I fell asleep.

A/N

This chapter is a bit shorter then the last few have been, but still, I hope you enjoyed it! Thanks for all the reviews, story alerts and favorites!

Leave some sort of feedback, review or PM, whether its positive, eccentric, neutral, negative, hateful, critical, or any combination there of, please! It'll make my day a whole lot brighter!

P.S., I just finished this book called _House of Dark Shadows_, in the _Dreamhouse Kings _series, by Robert Riparulo, and I highly recommend it, since it's the first good book I've read in a while.

-Ash Colored Wings


	9. Chapter 9

I hummed 'She'll be coming around the mountain when she comes!' over and over again as I walked down Half-Blood Hill, much like Percy, Annabeth, and Grover had done only a few days ago. Will and Jessie were already there, clipping their seatbelts on. It was one of the only rules Argus had while he was driving, so we all obeyed it.

After I yelled out a 'good-bye' to Chiron, who was watching us go from the top of the hill, I climbed into the back seat next to Will. Jessie had already claimed the front seat, so I didn't have much choice in the matter.

We drove in silence, and I spent most of the time looking out the window, playing with a thick string so my hands were kept busy. Jessie didn't seem to have as much patience as _moi_, because finally, she let out a groan, banging her head against the back of her seat. She reached out to turn the radio on, but Argus slapped her hand away, about fifty of his eyes turning to glare at her. She shrunk back, a pout on her overly pretty face, her jutted out lip seeming to make her more pretty, if possible.

I frowned, sinking back into my seat. I had never been beautiful, like the Aphrodite campers. My features were more, elfish, you could say, like all my siblings. My dirty-blond hair was always overly tangled, and took about ten minutes to smoothen out if you wanted to brush my hair without ripping it all out, which is why I never bothered brushing it, instead putting it up in a bun or ponytail every day. My whole face was slanted somewhat, my ears slightly pointed, my eyebrows upturned and my nose sharper then others. I never had much of a chest or hips, nor looked like I had the potential to grow any, and while I was 5'5, I still looked 12.

I was jolted from my thoughts as the van swerved, and I saw something grey shoot past the window. Argus grunted, speeding up. The sky seemed to darken around us, and I wondered if Zues was mad at us. I looked behind me, and what I saw confused me. It seemed to be a grey stallion, but I could tell it was the monster. The glowing red eyes kind of made me lean towards the 'Bloodthirsty Monster' choice, rather then 'Cuddly Pony'.

It quickly gained speed, and I knew if none of us did anything then we were dead meat. Jessie, who had been putting all the things from her purse that had dropped when Argus swerved back into her purse, finally looked back. Her face drained of color, and for the first time, I heard an Aphrodite camper curse.

"Anemoi Thuellai, storm winds… Aeolus is supposed to have them all locked up!" She said, her voice a higher pitch then usual. (_A/N, Anemoi Thuellai is the Greek name for the Venti from The Heroes of Olympus series. For those who don't know because they haven't read the books yet, they're 'The violent storm winds released when Typhon was defeated in the first Titan war', which are eventually made again after Typhon's second defeat, in the Last Olympian._)

Deciding not to question how she, an Aphrodite camper, possibly knew that when no one else had, I grabbed my bow and arrow from my pack, knocking an arrow.

Will still seemed in shock, and I remembered that he was still new and, judging from his expression, had never had a run in with any monsters. This meant I couldn't count on him to go all 'Son of Apollo' on the _Anemoi Thuellai's_ butt. I pushed open the door; glad they slid back instead of swinging out. I grabbed onto the handle on the inside, just above the door, to steady myself before taking aim, praying that Argus wouldn't decide to swerve or hit a pothole.

I aimed at the horses' forehead, right between its blazing red eyes, and released the arrow. The winds must have messed up my would-be perfect shot, because it swerved to the left at the last possible moment, instead imbedding on the trunk of a roadside tree.

I notched another arrow, aiming at the same place, this time pulling the string harder so it would go farther, with more force. This time, I didn't miss, and the horse went 'POOF' into golden dust. I grinned, pulling myself back into the van, closing the door behind me.

"Your welcome. You don't need to say 'Oh Cameron, I love you for going all Apollo on that storm spirits butt. Without you, we'd all be in a ditch, dead!' twice." I grinned, getting over the whole 'Not as pretty as Jessie' thing. I would be the one alive, killing monsters Jacky Chan style while Jessie was dead in a ditch, since all she could do was look pretty and spout random bits of knowledge, so it didn't really matter to me. No one can be awesome, courageous, hilarious _and_ outrageously beautiful.

* * *

><p>When we finally pulled to a stop at the Empire State Building, I couldn't be happier. If you'd forgotten, I did happen to have ADHD. I slung on my backpack, strapped my sword to my side and slung on my bow and quiver in about five seconds flat, before slamming the door shut.<p>

As I waited on the curb, Argus handed Will a phone, probably since neither Jessie nor me would give it back, though for completely different reason. I'd sell it, and she wouldn't be able to stop using it.

He slipped it into his pocket, and we all made our way into the building as Argus pulled away from the curb, joining Manhattan's morning rush once again.

"Five hundredth floor… still can't believe it." Will said, shaking his head as he glanced upward. It _was_ kinda surprising to hear that the what-you-thought-was-a-mythical-land Olympus from fairy tales was actually right above one of the most famous buildings in the North East, possibly the whole United States. Maybe even Canada, but I doubt it.

"Get over it, pumpkin." I said, which caused him to look at me and arch an eyebrow in an 'I'm a perfect, glowing, awesome-at-everything-I-do son of Apollo, not a pumpkin' kind of way. Or maybe that's just how I'm interpreting it, but whatever.

"I hate to say it… but you two could be so cute together!" Jessie squealed, and I couldn't help the blush that heated my face. Usually I'd say a witty remark back about how old, fat, ugly, or dumb her dad was, since I'd pretty much be reserving a place in the Underworld if I insulted her mother for being any of those things, but I didn't. Instead, I stayed silent, since I'll admit, Will just might be a tiny-winy bit cute, and I just might have a tiny-winy crush on him.

"We're headed for the five hundredth floor." I said to the doorman quietly enough so the other residents of the room, lounging on cushy black leather couches while they waited for their appointments, wouldn't hear.

"Five hundredth floor? What kind of joke is that?" He said. For a moment I thought he was being serious and we should just go back, but the way he raised his eyebrow sent a message that said 'Prove it and I'll let you go'.

"We're demigods, and we've all been summoned by our Godly parents. I don't think they'll be all that happy with you if you don't allow us entrance." I said, even quieter then before, and he smirked, pressing something on his desk.

"Go around the metal detectors, if you would." He said, and I held back a snort, imagining the scene it would cause if the alarms went off and we had the building security coming down to arrest us, or whatever they do to people who have weapons on them.

We got into the elevator, and I saw the man at the desk push another button, and the doors closed. 'Under Pressure' played softly in the background as we felt the elevator box slowly lift as we changed altitudes. As the chorus began to play, the elevator stopped and gave a ding, before the doors slowly opened.

To put it short, Olympus might just be one of the most beautiful wonders of the world.

A/N

Thank you for the reviews, favorites and alerts! As always, I appreciate them and look forward to more, and if you feel my story doesn't deserve a review, PM me and I'll fix whatever horrendous mistakes I've made (which I hope I haven't).

There was a bit longer of a wait between chapters, but not longer then a week, as promised. I'm reading the Lost Hero at the moment, and am almost finished, so I decided to put a link between the stories, which is the Venti/Anemoi Thuellai.

P.S. Say Anemoi Thuellai. It's really fun. Ann-emm-oy Thue-ell-ai, but without pauses I'm not sure if that's how your supposed to say it, but that's how I say it. :)

P.P.S. I'm thinking of writing another story, but in The Lost Hero time. I'm thinking a daughter of Hypnos, since I_ love_ Clovis from the books. I think it's going to be a Leo/OC story. PM/review if you're interested, or you have ideas. I've already written the first chapter, but I'm still messing with it. Tell me if it sounds interesting!

-Ash Colored Wings


	10. Chapter 10

We were all stunned for a moment, taking in the beauty of Olympus. When the elevator doors began to close, Jessie's hand shot out.

"Come on, guys." She said quietly, not taking her eyes off of Olympus.

We stepped out the elevator, and the doors closed behind us. We glanced at each other, and I could feel that we all shared the same feelings. Slight excitement and a whole lot of nervousness.

"Well, lets get going." I said after a moment, beginning to stride forward in what I hoped was a confident gait. They both jogged up to catch up with me, and we walked towards the large white Parthenon looking building that was at the highest point, which I guessed to be the meeting place of the gods.

We passed white marbles homes and temples, where fat satyrs, nymphs and what I guessed to be godlings walked around, seeming not to notice the beauty of their homes. I was sure that the ones that seemed to be humans were actually godlings when one who seemed to be around four or five made a fat nymphs fruit pastry float off of his plate and into his mouth and no one gave a second glance, except for the angry satyr who wouldn't dare say anything.

"Wow." Will breathed, and I couldn't help agree.

Now that I thought about it, I realized that our parents hadn't told us anything about how we were going to meet up with them. Wow, thanks.

"I'd say best bet is we go to the Parthenon thing at the top." I jerked my chin towards that relative direction, and Will nodded. I noticed Jessie had stop walking, and was turned around, facing the opposite direction.

"Hey, Jessie, I actually want to get-" When I turned my head to look at her, I could see someone else out of the side of my eye. I whipped around, and behind us, I saw one of the most beautiful woman I'd ever seen, and probably ever will. Her skin was glowing with youth and beauty, her eyes changing between sky blue, sea green and a warm chocolate brown. I couldn't quite tell what color her hair was either, since it kept changing between blond ringlets, fiery red curls, straight brown hair and black waves. Yet, no matter what combination it was, she looked beyond beautiful.

"Mom?" Jessie breathed, her eyes wide with hope.

"Yes, Jessica, it is I, Aphrodite." She said, smiling, her gleaming white teeth shining, "Hermes is busy at the moment and we will not meet with him until later, so I decided to get you three myself. Come, Apollo waits." She said, and my stomach clenched. When would I finally get to meet my father?

I followed them, lagging behind somewhat. My eyes pricked with tears at not getting to meet my father now, after I'd had so many hopes about this. Like how he could be waiting right outside the elevator doors, his arms wide open, awaiting a hug. Or how he would surprise me, coming up from behind and lifting me up in his arms like a cheesy movie while we laughed and he twirled me around in slow motion.

It might sound stupid to cry over something like not meeting my father when I wanted to, but to me, meeting my father could easily top my 'Most Anticipated Moments of my Whole Life' list. I'd waited so long; just to find out he had something more important he had to do and didn't have the time to meet me.

I wiped my eyes, deciding that I could wait longer and shouldn't be crying over this like a little girl, no matter how much I wanted to. I'd waited fourteen years; I could wait a few hours longer.

She led us to the side, to a building smaller then the Parthenon looking-place at the top of Olympus, but just as magnificent. Inside, Apollo was at a writing desk, a pen seeming to move on its own across a piece of paper as he spoke to it.

As we walked in, he spun around, his eyes zeroing in on Will. The desk and chair disappeared as he sat up, and he grinned as he strode towards us. The grin would initially look cocky and over-confident, but if you look closer, you could tell he was honestly happy at seeing his son.

He didn't stop walking a few feet from us; instead, he picked Will up, hugging him so tightly that I wouldn't be surprised if Will's spine snapped.

"Dad, dad." Will choked out, patting Apollo's shoulder. Apollo gently put him down, as if he was a little boy who just realized his favorite toy was glass and would easily break if he continued as he was.

"…Its good to see you, Will." Apollo said, his grin changing into a small, genuine smile, and Will's smile was so wide that it looked like it hurt his cheeks. I looked away, my eyes gravitating to my shoes.

Jessie and Aphrodite were quietly conversing in the entrance, both also with small, genuine smiles like Apollo's. I felt like I was being suffocated by love.

I looked back down at my shoes, counting the threads lines that made up the outline of the white puma on my black shoes.

I didn't feel him come in or appear, or whatever magic stuff gods use to teleport, but I could tell someone was there. I turned around, and he smiled slightly at me. It was more of a sad smile though, instead of the happy smiles that the rest of the people in the room seemed to be wearing.

"Hey, dad." I said quietly after a few moments of silence.

A/N

Not much happened in this chapter, but I hope the next chapter will be better, and more filling. Thank you for the reviews, story alerts and favorites!

For the ninety-fourth-bajillionth time, I want some feedback! I don't care if you want to tell me if my story sucks, or if it's the most amazing thing you've ever read in your life (which I kind of doubt, since I'm obviously not the best writer in the world). Whatever, just tell me what you think.

Thanks for reading, hope you liked it!

-Ash Colored Wings


	11. Chapter 11

"Hello, Cameron." He said after a moment of silence. I nodded, wondering how I should handle this situation. Like Apollo had, warm and welcoming with a large hug? Or Aphrodite, cool and chill with a proper greeting?

I noticed the room had gone a bit quieter as the others conversations stopped, all watching us. Us, the ones not showing any form of happiness in any way, while the rest were ecstatic at meeting each other, whether they showed it with a smile or a hug. I wonder if this was what it was felt like for all the children of Hermes when they met. Disappointment, jealousy and grief all rolled into one.

I swallowed, my throat dry.

"What did you need?" I asked, looking past Hermes at the part of the sky I could see from where I was. I scuffed the beat up toe of my shoe against the smooth granite floor while the three gods glanced at each other, seeming to share a private message. Aphrodite was the chosen spokesperson, it seemed, since she cleared her throat before beginning to speak.

"We have a… sort of quest." She began, her hair changing between straight auburn and dark brown curly hair.

"Usually, I would give the oracle any quest I needed done, but these matters are much too fragile, and if the wrong campers were to be chosen, the whole quest would have gone haywire." Apollo said, his arm slung around Will's shoulder, seemingly carelessly as if they'd known each other their whole lives.

Jealousy tugged at my heart, and I wished that Hermes and I were like that. Loving each other so easily, so… nonchalantly. But instead, we held each other at arms length, acting like we didn't know each other.

"Recently, in Siberia, scientists are beginning to uncover something. We believe it may be our children." Apollo continued, and for a moment, the only sound was from outside the building. He'd successfully caught our attention.

"Your children? What, are they in the ice?" Jessie asked. I glanced at her as she spoke, but my eyes were drawn to Aphrodite's. Her changing eyes were downcast, a film of unshed tears making them glassy.

"They are. Long ago, when we still resided in Greece, three of our children went on a quest together. Two boys, a son of mine and a son of Aphrodite, and one girl, a daughter of Hermes, as the prophecy had specified." Apollo said, "They were sent to steal an item of Khione's, who, at the time, held residence in Siberia. The exiled became her servants when they stumbled into her domain, and so our children pretended they had been exiled, gaining servitude in her palace." Apollo said, his eyes more wary and sorrowful then they had been. It didn't seem right to see the Sun god depressed, but I didn't say anything. _(A/N. Again, reference to the Lost Hero. Khione is the goddess of the snow, and personality wise is… another word for a female dog, in the books that is.)_

"They had to lay low for at least a year, so as not to be object to suspicion, " Hermes began where Apollo had stopped, "Finally, nearly a year and a half after they'd arrived, they made their move. My daughter, of course, was the one who would be stealing the book of Khione's, which Apollo had needed then, and she stole it successfully. After she and the other two were gone, they were caught in a blizzard, the making of Khione. After taking the book back, she cast a curse on our children. She froze them, similar to cryogenic freezing, so their bodies were preserved and their souls never rested in the Underworld." Hermes said.

"Then she buried them, and now you want us to go get them so you can take the curse off?" Will asked.

"Yes. She'd placed a curse not only on them, but also on the three of us, so we have been unable to find them. Now, all you have to do is find where the scientists are digging, and hopefully, they are there. Each one of you will play an equally important roll. For this quest, I will grant my son a small bit of control over the Sun, so he will be able to cast the light on the snow to melt it faster, and also to keep you warm." Apollo said.

"You, Jessica, will be dealt the roll of keeping you three together. I know of yours and Cameron's feuds, and of others to come. I am granting you the power of family love for this quest, which you will use whenever any of you break into a fight. If you do not use it when needed, your quest will be condemned." Aphrodite said, which left Hermes.

"You, Cameron, will be the one who finds the bodies and steals them, right from under the scientists noses. I give you my messenger bag, which I have charmed to suck in the bodies of demigods when unzipped, yet it will weigh nothing." Hermes said. From seemingly out of thin air, he took a white, plastic side bag, the kind you'd expect to see on a mailman.

As it passed from him to me, it changed into a more wearable, leather satchel with only one large zipper.

"If you just open it, it will have no effect, " Hermes said, demonstrating by pulling the zipper down. Inside, it looked like a normal bag, "Just twist this to the side and it will suck in any demigod it's directed at. Remember to close it when you're done." He said, showing me how to twist the zipper, but not actually doing it.

"I guess that's it." Apollo said, which left only one question. Will, thankfully, decided to ask it.

"When are we leaving?"

A/N

Slightly shorter, but hopefully it doesn't seem like it. I thought I'd have something happening by now, but again, this was just an informative chapter, I apologize. It was a lot of information, but no action, so you probably weren't that interested.

Thank you for the reviews, story alerts and favorites! I love seeing all of those, though I appreciate reviews the most! (HINT HINT)

So, when you review, which you hopefully will do, tell me what you thought about it and how it can be improved, whether it was grammar or just some facts I got wrong. If you believe my story is undeserving of a review, PM me and I'll be just as happy.

Thanks for reading, hope you enjoyed! 

-Ash Colored Wings


	12. Chapter 12

We left the following morning, after being stocked up on supplies. Basically our wardrobes for the trip consisted of snow pants and parkas, along with long underwear, gloves, socks, hats and ski masks. I thought they were being a bit ridiculous until Jessie, again spouting a random bit of knowledge, informed me that the part of Siberia we were going to, during the summer, had an average high in the high thirties or low forties. That's just the high, which means the low will be in the twenties or something.

I wasn't too mad about having to go to one of the coldest places on earth, but Will pouted the whole ride to the airport. Most likely having to do with him being the son of the God of the Sun, which, if you happened to miss out on the space section of your science textbook, just so happens to be the hottest things... ever. Not including Apollo.

Our parents had made Zues swear an oath on the river Styx that he wouldn't blast us out of the sky while on our plane, which he'd grudgingly did so, but not without complaining under his breath the whole time. Most having to do with how he was the king of the Gods and should be respected more.

We were flying to Paris out of the Newark International Airport, or EWR, which is a large airport in New Jersey, though operated by New York and New Jersey, hence, the name 'Newark'. Well, I think that's why they have the name. I've never really checked. Anyways, once we get to Paris, we'll be taking trains to our destination, but sadly, the train will only go to a town close to where the scientists investigation site is. The town is called 'Dikson', and when we first heard the name, I couldn't help crack a few jokes.

Aphrodite wasn't pleased. Apparently one of the fathers of her children had been born in Dikson. Dikson… heh heh… sorry, I'm not the most mature person out there. Excuse my 'crude sense of humor', as Aphrodite calls it.

The driver, seemingly a mortal under the influence of the Mist, left us on the sidewalk of the airport. Will had been given all the trip information, which, of course, Jessie and I couldn't be _trusted_ with. After getting our tickets from one of those automatic ticket things, since all we had to do was put the code in as the tickets had been bought and arranged before hand, we decided against checking our bags. Each of us had a backpack and all of them could easily fit under the seat or in the overhead compartment. Overhead compartment… sounds so official…

Excuse me; my ADHD strikes once again, causing me to trail off of my train of thoughts. Good metaphor, eh? Train of thoughts… it's over used though. Well, gosh darn it! It did it again! Excuse my attempts at not swearing; since they make me sound like Billy Ray Cyrus on the Disney channel… well, that made my cool points go down. Now people will think I watch Hanna Montana…. Which, ahem, I totally do not.

After going through security (gaining a few suspicious looks, since after all, we were three kids around fifteen going to Paris without any adults) we went to our terminal. We had about an hour until the plane left, so we played a game of cards on the gross, uncomfortable carpet of the airport.

"Gods… why did we come this early again?" I asked, rephrasing the question I'd already asked about fifty times since we sat down.

No one answered. After the twentieth time, they'd started ignoring me besides when they needed to say 'Go Fish' or 'Do you have a –insert card they need-?'. I groaned, and then I realized something I'd kept off my mind until now.

"Have you guys realized that we haven't had a run in with any monsters yet?" I asked quietly, leaning in so no one heard me. While the Mist could cover up visuals, it didn't cover up any slip-ups you might have during a conversation.

Will and Jessie glanced at each other, eyebrows raised as if they were both thinking 'really?', before they turned to me.

"Did you just realize that?" Will asked, and I nodded, frowning.

"And you guys think _I'm_ stupid." Jessie said, smirking as she asked Will if he had a four of hearts.

"Go fish. Anyways, I doubt our luck will hold. You see that guy over there, by the window? He hasn't flipped the page of his newspaper since he sat down. Whenever he thinks we're not watching, he's looking at us." Will said, jerking his head towards the huge, floor to ceiling windows with the seats along it.

A tall, burly man in a suit sat alone, yesterday's news in his large gloved hands. He had no bags with him, and a Fedora hat covered his large head. If you glanced at him, you wouldn't think anything was wrong, but we were trained to find those little details that most wouldn't notice, or not care about. Like one, how he didn't have anything with him, not even a computer bag, even though his outfit suggested he was a businessman. Two, despite the hot summer weather, he had a turtleneck on under his suit. Three, he had _yesterdays _news, so it was more then likely he'd picked it out of the trash.

"I noticed him a while ago. He came a few minutes after us." Will whispered when he saw that Jessie and I were done analyzing him.

"Well, lets hope he's doesn't decide to do anything on the plane." I said when the announcer called first class, which we were in, thanks to the unending supply of money, mortal or not, the Gods had. We stood, slinging our backpacks on before I collected the cards we'd been using. The man, or whatever he was, didn't stand up, but I knew he was watching us.

I could tell this would make for a _great _twelve-hour plane trip. A suspected monster, a chance of being blasted out of the skies (Gods don't always comply with their oaths, after all), and at least two hundred people compacted into an airtight metal can, which would really be awesome for me, with my claustrophobia.

-Fun Fact Which Doubles As Line Break: An hour has sixty minutes in it-

Despite everything, after an hour in the air I was able to fall asleep. Will said he didn't see the man board the plane, since we were able to see all the passengers go through the isle as we were at the front of the plane. That reassured us, slightly.

Content with the fact that we only had two possibilities of something going wrong, one being Zues broke his oath, and two being a different monster had slipped onto the plane, I was able to slip into a nice, deep sleep. Until the _turbulence_, as the Captain called it, hit.

And by hit, I mean there was actually a pack of rabid harpies trying to rip apart the plane. Again, I can just tell this is going to be _fantastic _plane ride.

A/N

Finally, they're out of Olympus and actually doing something. Thank you for all the reviews/alerts/favorites and I hoped you enjoyed this chapter.

As always, please leave a form of feedback, whether you liked it or not. If you didn't like it, then tell me what was wrong and how I can fix it.

P.S., Dikson is actually a town along the Kara Sea in Siberia. I did a lot of research for this chapter, and I finally decided I liked Dikson the most. Its actually considered one of the most isolated settlements in the world, so I decided it would be perfect for Khione.

Thanks for reading!

-Ash Colored Wings


	13. Chapter 13

I swallowed, watching a harpy claw at the right wing, an insane grin on her wrinkled face. The harpies all clung to the wing while they scratched at the metal, since they weren't able to fly as fast as the plane.

"If I even try getting out there, I'll either be killed by Zeus or the Harpy." I said, leaning back into my seat while the pilot apologized for the turbulence, as if it were his fault that we'd boarded the plane and attracted a pack of harpies, inevitably killing us all. The worst thing about the last sentence is I wasn't even being melodramatic.

"None of us can get out there." Will said, looking out. Kids in front of us were all looking out the window, awed looks on their faces. I don't know what the Mist made them think they were looking at, but at least it wasn't the truth.

"We have to do something." Jessie said, her voice a pitch higher then usual as she watched a harpy rip off the blinking light at the tip of the wing. The harpy looked at it for a few seconds, before throwing it into her mouth. She spat it out, her wrinkled nose pinching.

Will suddenly gasped, a grin on his face.

"I'm the son of the Sun god, people!" He whispered excitedly, his eyes alight with excitement.

"We know." I said, groaning at the stupidity of my quest-partners as I banged my head against the back of my seat. We were about to be killed, and he just had his big realization? By big realization, I mean the moment when a demigod fully realizes that they're half god, and they're actually related to the gods in all the myths and stories someway. It usually happens after a week, sometimes a month if the kid is slow.

"No, I mean, Apollo gave me some control of the sun. I could just heat up the metal on the wing, and the harpies will have to let go." He said, flexing his fingers, his eyes on the wing.

"Have a go, then. Try not to blast the wing off." I said, and Jessie sighed, putting her head in her hands, muttering about death and mutated chickens. Huh, never labeled Jessie as the emo type… or farmer type, for that matter.

Will gazed heatedly at the wing, and the sun's reflection off the wing slowly increased until it hurt to look at the wing. I looked away as the kids in front of us complained about it to their mom.

"Yeah!" Will yelled as he pumped his fist in the air at my side. I glanced at him, before at the wing. The harpies were gone, and all that was left was a scraped wing without a light at the end.

"Please, keep it down sir." A flight attendant said as she passed by. Will glared at her retreating form for a few seconds before back at us, a wide grin forming again.

"Thank you!" Jessie squealed when she finally raised her head to see if the Harpy's were gone. She leaned across me to give Will a kiss on the cheek, and a blush heated Will's skin. Jessie didn't notice as she rambled on about how she thought they were going to die and how he'd saved us all, causing Will's blush to deepen.

I tried not to glare at the water fountain advertized in the magazine I had, my knuckles white as I clutched the pages. I knew I shouldn't be acting like this, since Will and I had nothing going on, but I couldn't help feeling jealous and angry.

Jessie was the daughter of the goddess of love and beauty; of course she'd get the guy. I was just the kid of the god of thieves, travelers, sports, athletes and a few others things. Love wasn't anywhere in there, neither was prettiness or allure.

"Good job, Will," I said when Jessie paused, "I'm going back to sleep." I said, putting the magazine back in the pocket in front of me before closing my eyes. I slowed my breathing and took deeper breaths to give the illusion of sleep, but I don't think I'll be falling asleep anytime soon as long as I feel like crap.

I tried to reassure myself that I'd find someone else someday, since I wasn't even fifteen yet, but it didn't help all that much. Like I'd done before, I forced myself to stop thinking about it and instead waited until I fell asleep.

-Fun fact that Doubles as Line Break: Pumpkin pie is commonly a food ate on Thanksgiving-

I was shaken awake by Will as the plane began to descend, and I nodded groggily. I wiped the side of my mouth as I sat up, fastening my seatbelt so the coming flight attendant wouldn't have a fit.

"Paris, eh?" I muttered as the plain went lower. Out of the window across the aisle, I could see the Eiffel Tower glowing. The captain switched between speaking French and English, telling us about the Eiffel Tower, the weather and time, which was nearly midnight.

"The train leaves at noon tomorrow, so we have hotel reservations in a walking distance of the station." Will said, and I frowned at him.

"Why, again, do you get to control all of this? Hermes is also the god of travelers." I said, and he shrugged.

When the plain touched down, we had to wait another twenty minutes before actually getting out. I slung my backpack over my shoulder, slipping into the aisle past Will so we'd be first out. The other passengers were groggy and moving slowly, so the college student I cut in front of didn't even notice. I just wanted to get off the plane.

"You coming?" I asked Will, who nodded, tugging Jessie's wrist as they moved to the front of the line. When they opened the doors, I rushed out.

"Do we have to take a plane back to New York?" I asked as we stopped at a McDonalds in the airport to get something to eat.

"Yup." Will said, and I sighed.

"FML, dude, FML…" I muttered as the tired McDonald's worker handed us the tray. Excuse me while I bang my head against the wall, losing all my brain cells so I hopefully will be sent to a loony bin instead of back to the plane.

…That one was a tiny bit melodramatic…

A/N

Sorry I didn't update sooner! I get headaches if I try and force myself to write, so I waited until now to finish writing this chapter (it was almost finished Wednesday).

Anyways, thank you for the reviews! I appreciated each and every one. If you spot and mistakes, just PM/Review and tell me, and I'll fix it.

Thank you for reading, hope you enjoyed!

-Ash Colored Wings


	14. Chapter 14

The train was fancier then any I've ever been on. Probably having to do with the fact that I've only ever been on a subway.

We had our own private compartment, and it kind of reminded me of what the inside of the Hogwarts Express from the Harry Potter books might look like. Instead of glass doors though, they were wooden.

"How long until we get to the middle of nowhere?" I asked as I stared out the window, bored.

"Five hours left." Will said, not looking up from his book. I sat opposite Jessie and Will, and again, my jealousy was acting up. The good thing, Jessie had been asleep since we'd gotten on the train and she slept like a log. The bad thing, Jessie looked amazing while she slept also, and was snuggled up to Will. She didn't snore or drool once!

"Blimey, if I have to spend another minute on this bloody train I'll surely go crazy!" I adopted a British accent, and across from me Will rolled his eyes.

"Ditto." He said, and I glared at him. He got his iPod out and put his large Bose headphones on before returning to his book. I remotely remember him telling me that he bought them for two reasons. One, they blocked out all noise. Two, they made music sound awesome. Right now, I'm pretty sure he was using them for reason number one.

I laid down on my back, putting one of the cushy pillows beneath my head. I tapped the wood absently, watching the cloudy sky roll by outside the window.

"Ooh, look. It's a dog praying." I said, pointing at one of the clouds after about ten minutes. I momentarily forgot that Will had the headphones in, and frowned when he didn't say anything. I looked over to see him sleeping also, his book on his lap and his mouth slightly open. I banged my head against the pillow, only causing me more frustration when it was all cushioned. Dumb pillow, not able to feel the pain I inflict on it caused by my raging teenage hormonal emotions.

Heh, I don't think I have raging teenage hormonal emotions. Scratch that, then.

I began singing the ABC's, the never-ending version. For those of you who don't know what I mean… well, I'm not explaining. Look it up.

Soon, I phased into humming pointless pop songs. I was about mid-way through the chorus of some French pop song I'd heard in the lobby of the hotel we'd stayed at when the train slowed to a stop. The footsteps of passengers could be heard leaving, and I sighed. I really needed something to do.

I didn't hear the new passengers loading the train, so when the compartment opened, I jumped to my feet, Cutthroat in hand. The room temperature dropped a few degrees, but I barely noticed.

The seemingly unknowing female passenger let out a squeak and I dropped Cutthroat to my side and sighed, putting the sword back on my seat. No sooner was I tackled, sending me flying against the wall with the window. My head banged against the window, and while the window didn't crack, I'm pretty sure my head did.

"Ah… fu-" The woman cut me off mid-swear by giving a well-placed, power kick to my gut, and she quickly went to close the compartment door. I groaned, my eyes watering in pain. Neither Will nor Jessie stirred. Will, probably because of his headphones and Jessie because, as I've stated before, she sleeps like a log.

"I am a servant to Khione, half-blood. I have come to deliver her message." Her voice was cold and hard. Her blue eyes were so light in color and so cold that they could be ice, and I couldn't stop the shiver that traversed my spine.

"Go ahead, then." I muttered, clutching my head. I felt like someone had taking a hammer, cracked my head open a tiny bit then used a crowbar to slowly crack my skull the rest of the way. Sorry for the graphic images, but that's how I'm feeling. That's not even starting with my ribs…

"You shall not pester with the curses my Lady had put upon the three half-bloods you seek. You shall face grave consequences should you try." She said, and I looked up to, but she was gone. The ground where she had stood seemed to have iced over.

The room temperature raised back to normal, and I groaned. I grabbed my bag, quickly opening the bag of ambrosia I had. I chewed a chunk of ambrosia, almost moaning at the relief it gave.

I stowed the Ziploc bag in my backpack again before easing onto the seat. Will and Jessie were still deep in sleep, somehow. The train slowly began moving again, and I knew I had a decision to make.

Tell them and probably continue on with the quest, with constant worry from all of us? Or keep the visit to myself, go on with the quest and be the only one worrying… it only took me a second to decide.

This little visit would stay a secret. The gods would protect us, or guide us from Khione's traps, wouldn't they? I laid back down on my pillow, ignoring the dread curling in my stomach.

A/N

Thank you for the reviews, I love and cherish each one! Please leave some sort of feedback, whether a review or a PM, whether you want to ask a question or you noticed some mistakes, or just to say you love/hate it.

Thanks for reading!

P.S., Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!

-Ash Colored Wings


	15. Chapter 15

The train eventually managed to get to Dikson. And here was I, believing that time and space had been altered _just _so we wouldn't get to our destination. Which was Dikson… heheh…. Sorry, jokes never get old to me, unless it's someone else besides me saying them. Since, you know, only I say funny jokes that will be eternally funny, and everyone knows it.

I shrugged into a grey NYFD hoody as we walked down the crowded, narrow corridor to get out. The moment the cold air hit me, I regretted wearing basketball shorts. Goosebumps sprung up on my arms and legs, and I immediately began to shiver.

"Gah… dumb Siberia weather…" I muttered as I walked along side Will and Jessie as we walked toward what I guessed to be a diner. I didn't know Russian, but alongside the little English subtitles, I'm not so stupid that I can't look through the window and figure out that people plus food being served to them equals a restaurant. I am highly offended by blond jokes, just so you know.

"Get used to it. We're walking thirty miles in this. And this is the day weather. Imagine the temperature at night." Will said, and I groaned.

"Thank you, Will. Really. My cynicism bar has reached full, and I could have never reached it without you." I said, sure that I was going to get frostbite on some strange place during this trip. Like my left ear lobe.

"Lets get some food, suit up, then begin walking. We'll probably get a mile or two before the sun sets. Then we can set up camp." Will said and I glared at him.

"I don't recall Zeus ever dying and making you one of the gods." I said, and he returned the glare.

"Relax, guys. This kind of negative energy isn't good for your skin. And you'll get wrinkles sooner if you glare like that." Jessie butted in, and a pleasant, glow like feeling settled in my heart. By the time I realized what had happened, we were getting into the diner.

We all let a collective sigh of relief out as we got into the warmer diner. I forgot about Jessie's creepy lovey-dovey voodoo magic as I stopped shivering, enjoying the warmth. It was hard to believe this was their summer. What sane person would live in a place that only had one season? If that one season was summer, it would be more understandable, but it wasn't. It was winter. Cold, miserable, snow-shovel-included winter.

You might say I don't like winter. That's not true. I like winter when I'm prepared, and I have summer to look forward to. All I have to look forward to in _Dikson_ is a colder nighttime.

"Get me… something good. Like hot coco. And some chocolate chip pancakes. Waffles work too. Maybe a cheeseburger…." I said, standing up.

"Would you care to be a bit more specific?" Jessie asked, a slight smile on her lips as she leafed through the menu, which I hadn't cared to look at. I guess they included English subtitles in that too. Or Jessie's random knowledge now included knowing Russian.

"Eh… hot coco, definitely. Chocolate chip pancakes or waffles if they have them, and if they don't, just a cheeseburger or something." I said as I shrugged my backpack on, heading for the bathroom.

I honestly wasn't really up for thinking about calories or fat content or whatever. Actually, I rarely did… Maybe something wrong with me. Shouldn't I be all 'I'm so fat, I should only eat five hundred calories a day so I won't be so fat, so then I'll be beautiful!' or something like that? Never mind, I shouldn't ponder my strangeness. Depression will surely follow.

After putting some welcomed long underwear on, I pulled on my snow pants. I put the hoody on over it all, putting some gloves and a hat in my pocket before putting the coat in the crook of my arm and pulling some snow boots on over two layers of warm, fluffy socks. Maybe I'm exaggerating with the clothes, but I'm not a person good with cold. I'd rather be sweating then freezing, you know. Maybe, just maybe, I'll be able to keep my left ear lobe.

When I walked out, the waitress was just arriving with drinks. I was happy to see Jessie, or maybe Will, had ordered me my desired hot coco. The waitress was gone by the time I got to the table, and Jessie snorted as she saw what I was wearing.

"Really? Its twenty degrees outside, at the lowest." She said, and I shrugged.

"Dude, these are my threads! Don't be trippin' all over them!" I said, faking a, no offense intended, ghetto accent.

"I don't think that's how 'tripping' is meant to be used, but whatever. I doubt 'tripping' will be on any vocabulary test." Will said, and I shrugged.

"What did you get me?" I asked, and Jessie spoke up. That little know-it-all.

"A cheeseburger. They don't serve breakfast during the afternoon." She said, and I was expecting her to speak up about 'calories' or 'high chance of cholesterol as an adult' or whatever, but she didn't. Hmm…

"I'll go change. Don't kill each other." Jessie warned as she stood up, pulling on her backpack.

"Sure, mom." I murmured, yawning loudly as I was about to take a sip of my coco. Darn myself for not sleeping on the train.

"Have you noticed it's been a little quiet lately?" Will asked, and I shrugged.

"Don't look a gift horse in the eye. Or is it the mouth…? It's the mouth, never mind." I said, not meeting his eyes as I took a quick sip of the coco, successfully scalding the taste buds on my tongue.

They thought the last monsters were the harpies on the plane. I was the only one who knew any better. Maybe worrying wasn't the best thing for my health during this trip… nah, I'll be fine.

"_Better to remain silent and be thought a fool than speak out and remove all doubt_. " Will murmured, staring past me to where the large windows were, "Abraham Lincoln said that… and I think I should've kept silent." He said, and I looked behind us.

"What a lovely surprise." I muttered dryly as the bronze, fire-breathing bull outside the window lowered its head and pawed the ground with its hoof. I knew what this one was without Jessie telling me, "A Colchis Bull. Just our luck."

A/N

My updates are kind of choppy, but still, I'm continuing with updating. This story should be finished in five to ten chapters (complete estimation, don't be mad if it's not true), and then I'll begin/continue other stories.

Thanks for former feedback; I'm looking forward to see what you think of this story, whether its just one chapter you're talking about or the whole thing. Hope your Thanksgiving was amazing!

Thanks for reading!

-Ash Colored Wings


	16. Chapter 16

Most of the diner residents were quick to begin screaming and pushing over each other to get to the door. They probably saw a psychotic truck driver with a blowtorch or something.

"Быстро! Быстро!"A man yelled to his family as they tried getting a baby carriage through the door. I drew Cutthroat as Jessie joined us. She opened her mouth to say something and I cut her off.

"Colchis Bull. We know." I said, and she nodded.

"It's an Automaton, except it breathes fire, and it was crafted by Hephaestus. It should have a control panel on it someplace." She said, and we glanced at each other. She obviously meant that the control panel would have an On and Off switch, or something like that. Which meant one of us had to get to it.

"Lets get out of here, before we get trapped." Will said, and we rushed out the door, slinging on our backpacks. The panicked stream of people, thankfully, had distracted the bull, but when it saw us coming out next it seemed to remember it had a purpose. Not thankfully, that purpose was to skewer us.

It snorted loudly, smoke billowing from its nostrils as it pawed the ground more enthusiastically.

"Does anyone see a control panel?" Jessie asked, and we both shook our heads. The bull's hide seemed smooth, without any indents or breaks.

"You know how an animals most unprotected and soft place is its' belly?" I asked hesitantly, hating the more-then-likely idea, "Well, what if that's where the control panel is?"

Will and Jessie glanced at each other and shrugged.

"Maybe…" Jessie said.

"It's our best bet." Will said, sighing.

"Who wants to be brave and courageous and go get that-" I stopped mid-sentence and screamed as the bull actually charged us, jumping out of the way.

"How about you do it, Cameron." Will said, and Jessie nodded frantically, "We'll distract it."

"Thanks for nominating me, guys. Really. I love how much you love to make me do the most life threatening job out of all three of us." I said, and Will glanced at me irritably, "No, I must do it! Your desperate pleas for my safety will not stop me!" I cried dramtically.

"Go, Cameron." Will said, and I deadpanned.

"Fine. I'll go. Just know that-" I stopped when I noticed the Bull had began its next charge.

Since I'm not _actually_ a ninja (No joke! I couldn't believe it either.) I decided to just dodge again. But instead of waiting for the bull to slow down, turn around and charge again, I threw my backpack to the side and ran after it. This time, when it slowed, I was ready. I slid baseball style under its belly and looked around frantically for a panel. None.

I used the bulls belly as a wall and used my legs to push out from underneath it as it began its next charge.

"The panel isn't on its belly!" I yelled back to them, about 25 yards away. I watched as the bull charged them, but the bull seemed to have grown smarter while Jessie and Will were still the average matadors.

It turned its' head sharply to the side at Jessie, one of its' long horns hitting her in the side, causing her to plow into the diner, the windows shattering on impact while she banged into one of the window tables. I swallowed the bile that threatened to rise, shaking out my shoulders as Will shot an arrow at it. While it bounced off its bronze hide, the arrow distracted it from going back to finish Jessie off, who had fallen unconscious.

I sprinted towards the bull and Will, since it seemed to have opted to stop charging back and forth, and instead was attempting to either fry him to a crisp, stomp all over him or repeat what it did to Jessie by swinging its' horns. I decided next best place for the panel would be on its thick, beefy neck. Or was it its 'thick, _bronzy_ neck'?

I stopped wondering about what to call the bull's neck as I got into jumping distance. I put my hands on its neck to use as extra leverage as I jumped, swinging my leg around it. The bull seemed to notice it had attained extra weight, and tried to turn around to see what it was until Will distracted it by making a slice at it.

I looked around its back and neck, wondering what to look for. I glanced up at Will as I heard an earsplitting screech, but it was just his sword against the bull's chest, which, for those of you who have never seen a livestock animal, is the broad front of the beast between the neck and legs. Then I saw it. Right between the horns was a panel about two by two inches.

"Found it!" I yelled excitedly, drawing Cutthroat as I inched forward. I used the tip to push the covering off, and to my disappointment, there wasn't actually an On and Off switch. From what I could see, it was just a bunch of wiring. I was about to just slice them all when the bull seemed to get the alert that it's brain, or whatever it had, was uncovered and at risk.

It bucked, rearing like a horse, and since I'd been half way standing up to get to the panel, I didn't have much balance. Without anything to grab onto, I fell off. I groaned as I fell onto the cement with a dull thud. The bull's head twitched as it looked at one of us, then the other, confused whether to attack the demigod at its back or its front, and just backed up so it could see both of us.

I stumbled to my feet; grabbing Cutthroat where it had fell a few feet away.

"Stay on that side, Cameron. Confuse it." Will called, and I nodded.

"The panel is between its horns. It's just a bunch of wires." I yelled back, and he nodded.

Finally, the bull decided it liked me less. While it charged at me, Will ran after it. I dodged, as it was about to run into me, avoiding its horns. Will continued after it while it slowed, and jumped onto its back with ease, a small celestial bronze dagger in hand. He slashed down at the wires without pause, digging it in deeply.

The bull twitched at first, a puff of fire coming from its mouth. The glow in it eyes faded and I thought it was over. Until it exploded, with Will still on its back.

A/N

_Быстро = Quick_ in Russian

Someone (you know who you are) told me the monsters were going down too easily. Admittedly, they were. So, this is my more resilient monster attempt :)

Thanks for all the reviews, and if you notice any mistakes just PM/Review and tell me where and what they are so I can fix them. If you think this story is edging toward Mary-Sueness slowly but surely, please tell me so I can redirect its path.

Thanks for reading!

-Ash Colored Wings


	17. Chapter 17

For a second, I could only look with shock at where the bull had been only seconds ago. Where Will had been only seconds ago.

"Will!" I screamed, stumbling forward a few steps. Bronze strips of metal rained down, and I dodged a particularly large piece, as I looked frantically at the ground, looking for a mop of blond hair or his white bow and quiver. I heard a loud, dull thud nearby, followed by loud groan.

I whipped around to face where I'd heard it, and a small flame caught my eye from the ceiling of a nearby building. A hand sluggishly went over and patted it out, and my hopes flared.

"Will! Will!" I called, looking for a way to climb the building. A groan answered me, and I looked around for my bag, realizing I wouldn't be able to carry Will down. I saw it a ways away, and rushed over and grabbed the Ziploc bag of ambrosia, grabbing a water bottle along with that.

I ran back over, putting the edge of the Ziploc bag into my mouth before taking a running start at the side. I gripped the edge of the building, glad that I'd invested mainly in sword fighting and archery since if I hadn't, I would have never been able to pull myself up.

I reached Will, wincing at the sight of him. He was… well; I can definitely say I've seen him in better shape. He had multiple scratches all over him, varying in length and depth. His clothes were scorched and one whole sleeve had been burnt off, the one I guess I'd seen him put out. I opened the ambrosia bag, taking a good-sized chunk out before nudging Will's arm that still had the sleeve intact.

His eye twitched and his head rolled to the other side. I sighed, placing the ambrosia down and picking up the water bottle. I poured a little into his mouth, and I quickly leaned back as he began to sputter.

"Ow…" He groaned, and I rolled my eyes and waited until he opened his eyes. Once he did, I handed him the ambrosia, which he ate willingly, "That's so nice…" He mumbled, rolling onto his stomach, and I smiled slightly.

"Come on. Jessie's still passed out." I said, grabbing the Ziploc bag and leaving the bottle of water for Will. I stood on the edge of the building, estimating the distance between the ground and me and guessed about ten to twelve feet since there was a few steps up to the building, which had been evacuated along with the others on the street. I eased down, bending my knees to absorb the impact and began walking to the diner, less enthusiastic then I had been on the way to help Will.

Jessie was already awake, and her knees were drawn up to her chest, her head between them. She groaned as she clutched her head, and I flinched when I saw the large, bleeding cut on her forehead.

"Here," I said quietly, handing her an ambrosia square. She took it, biting into the square. She exhaled loudly, smiling. The bleeding slowed until it stopped completely, and I dug into my backpack until I found a napkin I had gotten from the Cinnabon place in the airport. I leaned down, wiping the blood from her forehead as gently as possible.

She winced slightly when I touched the wound, which had now been minimized to a mere scratch. While some of the blood had already dried, I got the majority of it.

"Ugh… my mouth feels all weird." She said, and I realized I'd ignored the tiny stream of blood at the corner of her mouth, handing it off as blood that had dripped from her head wound.

"Your mouth _is_ bleeding." I said slowly, tapping my chin. She gave me a wry look in return.

"Do you have any water? Not that I'm complaining, but blood really isn't my favorite drink." She said, and I shook my head.

"Will has my water bottle. He should be down soon." I said, and Jessie's head jerked up suddenly.

"Is the bull gone?" She asked, her eyes searching the street.

"Yup. After I found the panel, Will managed to cut all the wires in it. But it sort of malfunctioned and blew itself to bits. The gas tank probably sparked or something." I explained, and Jessie looked like she was about to ask something else when I added, "Will's fine."

She let out a relieved breath, a small smile lighting up her face. I stood up stiffly, frowning as I looked away from Jessie. I'd have to be extremely dense not to see the Jessie liked Will. And who couldn't like Jessie? She was brave, for the most part, could handle her own in a fight, and on top of all that, looked like she belonged in a painting. The only time she acted bratty was when I was around, and once this quest was over, Will and Jessie could have all the Cameron-free time they wanted.

I shook my head, as if to shake the thoughts out of my head. It seemed I'd been thinking about looks more since I'd left camp then I had in my whole life. Maybe it was because I finally found someone that I actually wanted to be beautiful for.

A/N

I would have updated this chapter soon, I swear, but the internet company had charged my dad extra for no reason after he paid the monthly amount, and when they cut it off, my dad said he wouldn't pay what he didn't need to. Then my lovely father threatened to get a new company and ta-da! The Internet's back on.

And that is my perfectly liable excuse for updating later then I would have. Thanks for all the reviews and feedback, I look forward to reading what you have to say about this chapter. Or, you know, whatever you feel like talking about. Maybe what you want for Christmas? I won't get it for you, but I could always just tell my agent in the South Pole about it. You know, so he can tip Santa off.

Hope you liked this chapter, and thanks for reading it at all!

-Ash Colored Wings


	18. Chapter 18

"This is miserable." I said dismally, and Will shrugged over on the other end of the tent. While Jessie seemed able to go to sleep and stay asleep anytime and anywhere, neither Will nor I had been blessed with such a gift.

The wind was howling outside the ten-by-ten foot tent, making our sixth night out camping all that much worse. I couldn't wait until we got the other demigods, because I was going right back home after that, and I was never going back to stupid Siberia.

Will finally just got into his sleeping bag and put his noise-blocking headphones on. After about five minutes, he fell asleep also. I sighed, laying back on my rolled up sleeping bag. I tapped my fingers on the rock floor we'd set our tent up on, humming 'Heaven Forbid' by the Fray. It was catchy song that I'd had on my iPod before someone stole it.

"Heaven forbid you end up alone, you don't know why. Hold on tight, wait for tomorrow, you'll be alright." I sung the chorus under my breath, and realized how ironic it was that I'd thought of this song.

That song could basically apply to any Aphrodite girl, including Jessie. Sadly, Jessie would end up with Will. I'd be the lonely daughter of Hermes who ends up working for UPS or something until I die because of a rabid dog who loved the taste of mailman, or in my case, mailwoman.

"I'm gonna die alone…" I moaned, unrolling the sleeping bag. I slid in, blocking out some of the sound by pressing one ear against the pillow. I closed my eyes, attempting to just ignore the wind. Right when I was about to slip into lovely bliss, I particularly strong gust of wind sounded outside, whistling loudly in my ears. Jessie kind of twitched but didn't wake up.

As the wind began picking up, ripping at the entrance to the tent, I went to go zip it the rest of the way down. The flap was moved out of the way right before I grabbed for it, and I was about to grab it again when I noticed a hand had shoved it back. I stumbled back to get my sword just as a woman came in.

"Stop." She commanded me, and for some incomprehensible reason, I listened, my feet rooted firmly in place.

The woman wasn't Aphrodite, but her beauty came close. She had long, glistening, raven black hair and eyes so blue they looked like shards of ice. Her skin was so pale it looked nearly white, but it looked beautiful instead of sickly. She wore a long, pale blue dress that seemed to be made of silk, and it clung to her every voluptuous curve, and at any other time, I would have been deadly jealous of her. My body was closer to that of a prepubescent scrawny boy then that of a girl.

"Cameron Nenupher, is it?" She asked, her voice so soft but so cold at the same time.

I nodded, wishing I could open my mouth and say something. By that, I don't mean I'm so struck by the woman that I couldn't even speak, since I don't really swing that way, but I literally could not open my mouth.

"I did have Miss Fleur come warn you on the train, did I not?" She asked, and the pieces slowly fit together in my brain. This woman wasn't _actually _a woman. She was the Khione, goddess of snow, "Did I, Cameron?" She asked again, her voice sharper and I nodded quickly.

Her face softened, but her eyes didn't. They stayed chips of ice, sharp and pointed.

"That wasn't so hard, was it?" She smiled, "Now, what I want to know is exactly why you're still going along with this silly quest. Was the Colchis Bull not enough?" She asked, and my jaw loosened enough for me to speak.

"Nothing you say or do can stop us, or whoever the gods send next. Whether it's us or others, we will get the demigods you cursed back." I said, my voice shaking slightly but hopefully not so much that she took notice. Unfortunately for me, she did.

"You sound so sure yet if you could, you'd be shaking where you stand, " She said, drifting closer and closer, "Wouldn't you, demigod?" She whispered in my ear, her cold breath sending a shiver down my spine.

"You don't think three Olympians can lock you up and then have someone come get the demigods before releasing you again? Because I know they can, and so do you." I took a shaky breath, "So I suggest that you take the easy path and just let us rescue the demigods."

I was pretty much expecting to be blown into bits or disintegrated, but all Khione did was walk back to the flap of the door before turning around.

"You've made your point, demigod. I will allow you to make the rest of the journey without my interference. " She said, her face as smooth and emotionless as a sculpted block of marble.

I blanched for a moment. Out of the thousands of things I expected to happen, from her screaming at me to making me into a mound of snow, being understanding about it was definitely not one of them.

"T-thank you, I didn't expect-" She cut me off with a sneer.

"I will not forgive you. Your short life will miserable when you cross paths with snow. Every flake will feel like a drop of acid, burning into your skin. Each flake with poison you slowly, and no one has the antidote but I. Even your friend, the son of Apollo, cannot heal a poison caused by a god. You chose your path, demigod, and I will make sure that you suffer." With a flurry of snow, she was gone.

My feet buckled under me at the sudden motor control I had, and I didn't notice the snow flake before it touched my arm. The pain was instant and blinding. I gripped my arm, doubling over from the intensity of it, remembering Khione's words she'd said not a minute ago.

"_Every flake will feel like a drop of acid, burning into your skin." _

The honesty of her words hurt. Literally.

A/N

Ah, don't you just hate Khione? I know I do.

Since no one reviewed the last chapter, I can't say 'Thanks for reviewing', and I'm kind of disappointed. That was the only chapter no one reviewed, and I have no idea why. If you found issues with it, PM/Review so I can fix them.

Leave some feedback, ask some questions, whatever. Even if you want to list every detail you found wrong, don't feel shy. I want to know what I'm doing wrong.

Thanks for reading

-Ash Colored Wings


	19. Chapter 19

I wasn't able to sleep for the rest of the night. I could still see and feel where the snowflake had fallen on my arm, and as you can imagine, it wasn't the nicest feeling. A dark imprint had formed where it had fallen, and if I bent my head at just the right angle, I could see a thin coil of transparent smoke rising from it.

Though I didn't want to think about it, I knew what it was doing to me. That little coil of smoke was my life, trickling away with every passing minute.

About an hour after the sun rose, Jessie woke up. After sitting up for about five minutes, looking like a weird zombie with her eyes closed, she finally decided to actually get up.

"Cameron!" She shrieked in surprise, and I nodded, not taking my eyes off a spot on the maroon tent ceiling that I'd found around 3'oclock in the morning. Jessie glanced at Will, making sure she hadn't woken him up – which she hadn't – before looking back at me, "What are you doing up?" She asked, going over to her backpack.

She took out a brush from her backpack and began combing out her already perfect brown hair. I sighed, closing my eyes. Since Khione's visit had helped us more then it hadn't, I decided I should tell them.

"Khione came last night." I said, and the comb clattered onto the stone ground. Jessie looked at me, eyes opened wide and mouth slightly agape.

"What did she say?" She asked, and I was about to answer when she cut me off, "Let me wake up Will. One second." She said, rushing over to Will. She pulled off the headphones he'd had on and shook him awake gently.

"What is it?" He mumbled, his eyelids fluttering. He curled into the sleeping bag, facing away from Jessie.

"Khione came last night." Jessie said, and his eyes shot open. His blue eyes searched frantically for a few seconds before focusing on Jessie's face.

"What? When?" He asked, shocked.

"I don't know. Cameron just told me, so I decided she should tell the whole story to the both of us together instead of individually." She said.

Soon, they had both taken up cross-legged positions in front of me, waiting for what I had to say.

"Khione came last night, not too long after you fell asleep." I said, nodding to Will slightly, "After we spoke, she said she'd pull off any farther interferences, like the Colchis Bull that she'd sent. She knows she can't compete with the wrath of our three parents combined. But… she got kind of pissed at me for _saying_ she couldn't compete with our parents." I said, and they exchanged glances.

"What did she do?" Jessie asked, and I sighed, unconsciously rubbing where the snowflake had landed.

"She cast a curse on me. Snow that touches my skin will slowly poison me, until I die. I don't know how long it'll take, but she said that Will couldn't heal it, and I doubt ambrosia or nectar could heal it either." I said, and Jessie shrugged.

"Well, that's fine. We just need to keep you out of the snow, and then once we get back to Olympus, Apollo can fix it." She said as if it were the simplest thing in the world.

"That's the problem." I said, tapping my arm where the snowflake had landed, "She left in a cloud of snow. I was still kind of shocked, and didn't notice this one." I said, and they both leaned in.

"That?" Will asked, looking at the darkened skin, and I nodded, "Maybe that's a birth mark or something." He said, leaning back. Though he looked sure of himself, his voice was nervous.

"It's not. I felt it when it landed, and I still feel it." I said. I knew we were close to the other demigods, so once we got them from where the scientists were digging; we'd be on our way back. That would be another seven days at the least, just to get back to Dikson.

"Well, do you think you're up for another few days? Once we get the other demigods we can try getting back faster, and my father can heal you on Olympus." Will said, gnawing on his lip.

"Yeah, I'll be good. Come on, then." I said, standing. I wasn't going to hold up our whole quest because a little snowflake landed on my arm. I would get over it later.

"You're so… stupid." Will said while he wrapped up his sleeping bag.

"Because…?" I asked, my sleeping bag already rolled up and in my backpack.

"You told a _goddess_ she wasn't as good as our parents. If that wasn't insulting, I have no idea what is." He said, and I shrugged.

"Didn't cross my mind." I said, and Jessie and Will both rolled their eyes. I smiled, standing up and throwing my backpack on as they finished.

We took down the tent and put it into its canvas bag. We switched on and off carrying it, and today was Will's turn.

Today was a cloudless day, and I made sure to pull my socks half way up my calves so any snow I kicked while walking wouldn't touch my skin.

After about an hour of walking, Jessie slowly gravitating to the front while Will and I walked beside each other, Jessie stopped. She squinted at something farther away, and I looked, but didn't see anything.

"Do you see that?" She asked, pointing straight ahead.

"Er… no." I said at the same time that Will said "Yeah."

"Right there." Jessie said, and I looked closer. On the horizon, a short wall of white I'd ignored at first seemed to appear. I slowly realized I was looking at a temporary building made of plastic white sheets and tall metal poles.

"Oh. Do you think that's it?" I asked, and they both nodded.

"It has to be." Will said, and we began walking again. After about a half hour of walking, we seemed about a mile away, at the most. White vans were parked outside of it, and the building itself seemed two stories tall and fairly large in width.

"Step aside, rookies." I said when we were close enough. I threw down my backpack, pretending to spit on each hand before rubbing my hands together, standing with my knees bent slightly.

"Are you sure you want to do this?" Jessie asked, "We could do it together, you know." She said.

"My insides are quivering, please stop making me laugh so hard." I said, doubling over in pretend pain.

"I get it, you're an almighty daughter of Hermes, you need no help." Jessie said, rolling her eyes.

"Call me when this bites you in the ass so I can come save it." Will said, and I rolled my head to relax my stiff neck.

"You're too funny." I said dryly, cracking my knuckles.

"Any time today would be nice." Jessie said after a minute, and I sighed dramatically.

"There's no rushing perfection, sweetie. And what am I supposed to do anyways?" I asked, since I honestly had no idea. Getting past all the scientists was a definite part, but once I got to the site, what was I supposed to do? Get the demigods all on a sled and high tail it out of the there? For some unconceivable reason, I don't really think that's the best idea.

"Just scope it out. Will's going to be the one actually getting the bodies." Jessie said it like it was the most known fact out there, in the same way someone would say 'Santa's elf Bluejack wrapped my bake set'.

"Er… _why_?" I asked, since I'd been thinking this whole quest that this would be my big moment. Stealing was literally in my blood, and while I'd never actually stole a living thing, it couldn't be that different from stealing anything else, besides weight difference.

"He's the only one that can melt the ice." Jessie said, and I held in a groan. I hated how much sense she was making.

"Whatever. I'll be back in thirty." I said, beginning to jog towards the building. It was just under a mile, but I wasn't willing to full out sprint since I didn't want to be panting when I got there.

About 8-10 minutes later, I arrived. I jogged over to the side opposite of the doorway, even though the outside of the place seemed pretty empty. I took a running jump at one corner of the building, and grabbed hold of the metal pole. It shivered slightly, but besides that, it held.

I began climbing, wishing I had gloves to get a good grip and warm my hands. The top of the building was the same white, plastic sheet as the rest of the building, and I grabbed Cutthroat from my sheath. I cut three sides of a small square in the plastic and lifted it up before peering in.

Inside, about ten men and woman were walking about. Three were kneeling over an icy sort of pond on the surface. I looked closer, since one man pointed to something inside the ice while speaking to a woman. They both used animated hand gestures, and were equally excited about whatever it was.

If I hadn't been, you know, _me_, I would have gasped at what I saw. Closest to the surface of the ice was an older teenage boy, at least seventeen, with a curly mop of dark brown hair. He had Ancient Grecian armor on; metal skirt, breastplate, and the whole shebang. It wasn't his apparel that was the most surprising though.

His upturned eyebrows, elfish features and lean muscled body practically screamed 'Son of Hermes'.

A/N

Sorry for updating so late in the week! I kinda sorta forgot about Fanfiction…

Since we have exams next week, my teachers have been cramming in the last little things, and gave us tons of homework. But now, since my first exam is tomorrow, I've got no other homework besides studying (which I'll do in the morning).

Thank you for all the reviews! I appreciated each and every one. I look forward to what you have to say about this chapter.

Thanks for reading! 

-Ash Colored Wings


	20. Chapter 20

"Jackpot." I muttered, grinned widely. I pushed off from the side of the building, absorbing the impact by bending my legs. When I landed, it created a dull thud. When I realized I made a dull thud, I cursed loudly. When I cursed loudly, I had forgotten that the only thing separating me from the scientists inside was a sheet of plastic.

And that was how I found myself sprinting away from that place like the whips of Hades were upon me, almost tripping over myself in my haste. I didn't wait to see if they'd came out, since all they had to do was peek around the corner of the building to see me.

When I was maybe a hundred yards from the building, I heard a man shouting something indiscernible. Though I didn't know the words he said, I did know the tone. Sadly, he didn't sound like he was asking for someone to pick up some donuts for him. More like he wanted to kill the woman who had broken up with him in high school because he wasn't good enough… or something like that.

"Zeus, this is bad…" I muttered to myself as I ran, gripping Cutthroat's hilt instinctively. _Why_ couldn't the Mist cover up demigods also? Oh, this was really, really bad.

"Go, go, go! Hide!" I yelled when I was twenty feet away from where Will and Jessie were sitting. They had their backs to me, and seemed to be playing I Spy or some other equally pointless game.

"Why? What happ-" I cut Will off, tugging them up by the forearms.

"Just get up! Get up!" I hissed, glancing behind me at the white tent. Two vans were coming this way, and I wondered if they had hired any Guns. Being shot would _really _spoil this quest.

"Lets go! Come on! That way!" I said, my voice unnaturally shrill, grabbing my backpack and pulling it on. I began running towards a ridge about five feet tall, and they followed after a few bewildered glances. I threw my bag down when I reached it, nestling as close to the wall as I could possibly get.

"They're_ following_ you? Cameron, I thought you were good at this kind of stuff!" Jessie hissed, sitting next to me.

"I am! But, I forgot myself and cussed really loudly, and they heard me." I said sheepishly, my cheeks warming.

"We could've used this moment if we were prepared…" Jessie sighed, and an idea sparked.

"We still can! Will, you'll be getting the bodies anyways, right?" I asked, and Jessie nodded.

"I'll distract them, and you guys go get the bodies. Knock out the scientists they left, and then go hide in a drift somewhere back along the way to Dikson. I'll find you." I said. Will looked surprised for a moment, but he slowly nodded.

"Alright... See you later, then." Will said, sucking in a deep breath as they both slipped on their backpacks.

The ridge was long, at least fifty feet in length, and so I went to one side while they went to the other. I stood up slowly, and the van – which had slowed down – sped up, swerving so it was coming this way, another following behind it.

I began running, pretending to be frantic. I successfully led them away from the ridge, and after maybe a half-mile the vans finally caught up. Until now, they had had to avoid ridges and snow drifts, but it was open land now.

The scientists emptied out of the vans, roughly eight in all, and I resisted grinning. I had done my job, now Will and Jessie just had to do theirs. Plus, by the looks of it, these were just nerds with guns.

"Hey." I called belatedly, since they kept on glancing at each other as if they expected someone else to say something.

"What were you doing, spying on us? Are you from the SIU?" A man in his mid thirties finally spoke up, his voice shaking slightly.

"SIU…?" I paused. What the _hell _was the SIU? A University? An Institute? "Er, yeah. I am." I said, swallowing.

"Can I see some form or paper to prove it? Last I checked, they didn't hire kids." A younger woman said, sneering, and I resisted the urge to flip her off for thinking too much. After a moment, a small story formatted in my mind, and I sucked in a breath.

"They don't…" I mentally rethought the story, making sure there weren't any obvious gaps; "A man came to me in the town of Dikson, which is where I just moved to recently. He found me on the streets next to the local diner, by the train station." I said, and a few nodded. I mentally patted myself on the back for including an actual place they might have remembered.

"Do you know his name?" The same woman asked, her upper lip curled slightly. For some reason… I don't think she liked me. Just a hunch, though. She could just be thinking of how our various likes and dislikes compare, and what place she should take us for our first friendly meeting based on them.

"No. He wanted to keep this secret. He paid me to come and spy on what you guys were doing." I said. From what I knew, these scientists and the SIU group didn't like each other, and when they found me spying on them they immediately assumed I was a spy from SIU. If it was such an easy thing to assume, it couldn't be that hard to believe.

"When and where are you supposed to meet?" A different man asked, his arms crossed. He didn't seem defiant or suspicious, but more like he was trying to make sense of it all.

"We didn't set up a time." I said, since I knew I needed as much time for the other two as possible. If I didn't openly explain everything like I'd been doing, they'd have more questions, which meant a longer amount of time.

"I find it hard to-" The nasty woman was cut off by a distant gunshot, echoing in the emptiness. They all were silent for a moment as they faced the direction of the gunshot; surprise evident on their faces as they realized it had came from their encampment. I felt a sinking feeling in my gut, and took that moment to attack the nearest scientist.

I hit him with a closed fist on his temple, knocking him out. Though I knew the strike could have killed him also, it wasn't what I aimed for. I moved onto the next, who had turned to face me and tried dodging. He was too slow though, most likely due to his surprise, and I gave him a strong strike to the back of his head. He crumpled instantly, and I winced at the pain in my knuckles.

For the second time that day, I wished I had gloves on.

The third scientist, the man who'd spoken first, was hastily turning the safety off on his rifle. I got to him just as he lifted the gun to aim it at me, and I brought my hand up and slammed the flat of my palm into the barrel, causing it to fly out of his shaky grip.

I grabbed it when it came back down to earth and swung it like a baseball ball into the side of his head. I winced slightly at the loud _crack_ it produced. The man fell, and I looked to the next scientist.

Thankfully, next in line was the snotty woman. She would be the only one I would be glad to injure. Not thankfully, she was ready by now, and had her rifle aimed right at me. I froze, and this seemed to make her confidence grow. Her hands stopped shaking as violently, and she pressed the barrel right up against my forehead. I resisted the urge to back away, instead grabbing the barrel and shoving it away.

"You couldn't use a gun anymore they you can fire it." I said, my voice surprisingly calm. A little high, but not cracking or shaking.

In the moment of her hesitance, I grabbed the gun and jerked it from her hands. I twisted it around and aimed it at her, glad that none of the people here actually had any idea of what they were doing. If anyone of them were even close to being as experienced as anyone at camp, I'd be sweating after the first guy, if I even got that far.

"It's still five against one. You can't plan on winning this." The woman said nervously, and I shrugged.

I stayed silent, the gun trained on the woman, and she worried her bottom lip, her eyes darting from me to the other scientists and back to me. The others aimed their guns at me, and I threw my gun up.

"I give up. You got me." I threw the gun to the side. I didn't actually need to knock them out, though it would be nice. All I had to do was keep them from going back to their little hideout long enough for Will and Jessie to get the bodies.

"Who else is working with you?" The woman asked.

"Who says there is anyone?" I asked, clasping my slightly shaking hands behind my back. I was fairly sure that no one was going to be shooting anyone anytime soon, but the thought wasn't as assuring as it should be. I don't think anyone that has four guns trained on them can act calm. Besides Chuck Norris.

"That gunshot was pretty clear." Said a man who hadn't spoken yet. He seemed a bit gruffer then the others, but was still a little shaky.

"Well, by now… I think they'll have gotten what they want." I said, my lips stretching into a wide grin.

They're eyes seemed to all widen in sync, different emotions coursing through their faces. Surprise, worry, fear and anger seemed most prominent, and a man nudged the others.

"Let's go!" They rushed to the vans, leaving their friends, and I grabbed a gun from the ground. I cocked it and aimed, like I'd seen so many times in movies, and fired at one of the back tires of the van they'd all loaded into. I missed by a few inches, instead hitting the ground, and I swore, quickly cocking it again.

They had begun driving away by the time I'd aimed again, and I attempted another shot. I missed again, and I threw the gun to the ground. Though I was pretty sure they'd have gotten the bodies by now, I couldn't be sure.

Hefting my pack onto my back, I closed my eyes and prayed quietly to all three of our parents. I rolled my shoulders and cracked my slightly sore knuckles, and was about to go find a different drift to wait in when I stopped, seeing something.

I grabbed a gun that hadn't been used, and a small smirk lifted the corner of my lips, unwillingly.

"Couldn't hurt." I murmured under my breath, giving one of the unconscious scientists a kick to the side on my way back for good measure. I whistled the first few notes of 'It's a Small World' as I began walking to towards where we'd been before I'd been chased away.

Besides an impending death and the threat of the scientists catching Will or Jessie, things were looking fairly… good.

A/N

Sorry for updating so late, but I just got the last Inheritance book and I've been reading it nonstop. I'd started the chapter a while ago, and until now, hadn't thought to finish it.

Thanks for all the reviews; I love each one of them.

I hope you all had a good Christmas!

-Ash Colored Wings


	21. Chapter 21

I found Will and Jessie hiding behind an ice ridge maybe half a mile from the scientist's camp. With them, propped against the hard wall, were three others. All of them, instead of still frozen, seemed simply sleeping now.

Along with the boy I'd already saw, who I'd bet a million dollars that he was my half-brother, there was another boy, as well as a girl. The exact opposite of our group.

The other boy, who I knew must be the son of Aphrodite because the only other boy was definitely my half-brother, definitely looked like he could be the son of the goddess of beauty. He looked like how you'd think Apollo would look, or a son of his. If I didn't know that the two boys were sons of Hermes and Aphrodite, and that Apollo's daughter was, well, his _daughter_, then I'd have thought that this boy was his son.

He had sun bleached golden hair, and dusty tan skinned. He was as muscled as my half-brother, but with broader shoulders. His facial features were strong, and he fit the stereotype of 'Abercrombie and Fitch model' perfectly. He was what a single, middle-aged, romance-book-addicted woman would dream of, in other words. He, like my half-brother, also wore ancient Greek armor.

The third one was a girl, and although she was the daughter of Apollo, her skin was pale and her hair a warm, light brown. She had dainty features, but she still was beautiful. While I had thought that all children of Apollo were friendly, if a little stuck-up or motherly at times, she looked the exact opposite of 'friendly'.

They all seemed to be around the age of seventeen or eighteen, and altogether, looked like a pack of supermodels. Maybe the gods preferences back in Ancient Greece were 'Super hot and likely to have a kid who's just as hot'.

"Right when we got in… I happened to remember something." Jessie said, still panting slightly, her skin covered with a sheen of sweat. Her voice seemed vaguely annoyed. She wiped her upper lip before reaching into her bag, getting a water bottle.

"What?" I asked, settling down against the ridge.

Will was similarly tired, and caught on with what Jessie was doing and reached into his pack for a bottle of water.

"You were supposed to steal the bodies. You _were_ given that sack by your dad." Jessie said after gulping down the whole bottle of water, and my eyebrows knitted together as I remembered the leather messenger bag Hermes had given me to put the bodies in.

I reached into my backpack, drawing it out from beneath everything else. I'd forgotten about it the moment it was packed.

"Hey, you were the one that said Will was supposed to steal the bodies." I shrugged, and Jessie glared at me, as if to say 'Don't-try-putting-the-blame-on-me'.

"They probably meant you were supposed to be a team. We almost got caught, thanks to your _distracting skills_, anyways." She said, glaring at the ground by her feet.

There was a silence for a moment, and I resisted the urge to stick my tongue out at Jessie for making everything awkward.

"What do we do now?" Will asked hesitantly after a moment, and I shrugged.

"Get going back to Dikson." I said, and he nodded.

Jessie sighed, closing her eyes before speaking.

"What about the bodies?" She asked, her voice lacking the venom it had been dripping with only moments ago.

"The bag, I guess. Or we could wait for them to wake up." I said, and we all turned to look at the bodies, as if to see if any of them waking up was an actual possibility.

They were definitely not under the spell anymore, since the son of Aphrodite was muttering about 'mistakes' and 'stupid'. The other two seemed to also be asleep, though neither spoke.

I nudged the son of Aphrodite with my foot; since he was the only one that I was sure was asleep instead of unconscious. His head lolled to the side, his mouth opening slightly. I nudged him again, and his eyes flickered open.

Immediately, he jumped to his feet, his eyes unfocused. He drew a sword from the sheath at his belt in a fluid motion and when his eyes focused, he seemed to see me first. He darted forward, and it was by sheer luck that I managed to jump backwards before he cut a hole in my neck.

"Dude!" I yelled, and his eyes narrowed. I realized he probably didn't know English, and switched into Ancient Greek, "We're demigods also! We were sent on a quest to save the three of you." I explained, using more hand gestures then I usually would, probably since my heart was beating like hummingbird's wings from almost being decapitated.

Being almost intentionally killed by a sane person can make you a little shaky, if you know what I mean. Then again, you probably _don't _know what I mean.

"Who are thou parents?" He asked suspiciously, and it took me a moment for my mind to translate the Greek. By the time I understood what he had said, Jessie was already responding.

"My mother is Aprodite, as is yours." She said, and the boy turned to look at her. He studied her for a moment, as if to see if she were pretty enough to be a daughter of Aphrodite, before looking to Will. Will explained his lineage as well, and then I did also.

"Swear it on the River Styx." He looked from Jessie, to Will, to me. We all repeated our lineage before swearing on the river that it was true, and he seemed satisfied.

He introduced himself as Flavius, along with a title longer then I could remember, before sitting back down where he had been. He still seemed a little unsure, which was to be expected, and we all stayed silent for a moment before we began actually introducing ourselves, instead of just our parents. He seemed mystified by our names, but didn't question them.

And then came the part where he noticed our attire, and 'Odd tools', and like in every movie, book or paper about how the future-meets-the-past, or vise versa, we got into a long discussion filled with names, 'What?'s, confused looks, questions, and multiple sighs and groans.

A/N

The incredibly late update is due to my laziness, and a lack of interest in this story. My interests moved on, but I'll continue with this story until I finish it, so don't be worried that I'll quit it or put it on hiatus.

I'll try to get back onto my regular updating schedule, but I'm not making any promises. The updates will probably be every week, instead of twice a week, and sometimes (maybe) not even that.

As I said before, my interests moved on, and I've began an Inheritance Cycle story – which means I'm now writing three stories. This one will still be main story still, so if I update any of my stories, it'll most likely be this one.

Thanks for reading, and I appreciate all your reviews!

-Ash Colored Wings


	22. Chapter 22

I winced, the strange tugging sensation in my arm increasing. Ever since we'd gotten on the plane (Jessie using her power of 'family love' to calm down the three others) it had been tingling.

The skin around the small, snowflake-shaped burn mark on my arm had begun graying, and by now I couldn't feel anything with a two-inch radius of the mark. I didn't mention it to Will or Jessie, since there was nothing they could do to speed the plane up, but I think Jude – my half-brother – suspected I was in some sort of pain.

I pulled on a hoody, and sighed in relief when it was on. I didn't realize for a few moments that the effort of just pulling a sweatshirt on were the cause for me breathing hard. I swallowed, my throat thick, but didn't continue thinking about it.

I fell asleep thinking of pointless things that veiled the underlying topic: I was getting worse.

When I was shook awake, it took me a minute to realize where I was. I finally sat back up, and groaned. I felt terrible. My skin was covered with a clammy sheen of cold sweat, and I had a headache that made me think my brain was about to explode at any moment.

"Cameron… Cameron…" Someone was saying, and I glanced to my side to see Will there. His brows were furrowed and the sides of his mouth tugging down slightly.

"What?" My voice sounded scratchy and hoarse, and I tried clearing my throat, but it just left it feeling raw and sore.

"How are you feeling?" He asked hesitantly, as if he knew it was a stupid question. It was, by the way.

"Like sunshine and rainbows." I muttered, my voice low so I didn't strain my throat too much.

"So, bad…" He said, and sat back in his seat, "Well, we'll be landing in Newark in a half hour. The pilot just came on to tell us." He said, and I nodded. I grimaced at the effect it had on my headache, and stayed still until it dulled down to the point it had been at.

"How's the other three?" I refrained from using too many words, but he still got the point.

"Alright. Jessie overdosed with her mom powers and they're all sort of loopy." We both smiled at this.

I pulled the piece-of-crap airline blanket closer to me, noticing I was substantially colder then I had been when I'd gone to sleep. My skin felt sweatier also, and when Will looked away, I wiped my face slightly with my sleeve so he wouldn't notice how sweaty I was when the lights were switched on.

Soon, we could feel the plane beginning to descend. It circled around once, and I looked past Will to see the enormous masses of lights that made up the Jersey Shore and New York City. New York was a little in the distance, but it was unmistakable during the night.

Once the plane landed, we waited until most of the passengers had gotten off before getting our back-packs. Despite having slept half the plain-ride, I still felt tired. From what I could tell, so did the others.

Jude, Markus, the golden son of Aphrodite, and Plethora, Daughter of Apollo - whose name was chosen by her mother to mean 'A plethora of beauty' – all were decked out in clothes we'd gotten in Dikson. They initially rejected the clothes, and then they ridiculed it with every step ("I feel like a common peasant! I am a daughter of a God, you know.", "Does everyone always dress in this mortifying fashion?", believe me – the list went on) until they reached this step – looking incredibly uncomfortable.

"Jessie… What are _those_?" Markus whispered to his half-sister with a large smile on his face, pointing to a flight attendants shoes. She was looking the other way, helping an elderly man get his bag, so she didn't see him.

They both began snickering, and I looked at Will, who was walking behind me; we both smiled.

Will's attention was caught by Plethora, who began speaking to him about music. She wanted to know about the current trends, if I'd heard right.

"How are the lights made? Is there a contained fire inside?" Jude asked me as we got into the passage connecting the plane to the airport. He swung a bag at his side, containing all of his old armor. We had bought each of them one, so they could put their things into them.

"No. Er… the electricity-" I cut myself off from trying to explain something I barely understood, and sighed, "I'll get someone else to explain it to you, sometime." I said, and he smiled and nodded.

"What is that smell?" He suddenly asked as we got into the actual airport. As he looked around, his mouth fell open, and I elbowed him slightly.

"Try to look normal." I said under my breath, and he shot me a guilty look and nodded.

Markus and Plethora were in a similar state, their mouths open in shock.

"They _do_ all dress like this…" Markus said in something akin to horror.

We continued on into the airport, Will straying behind our group to call Argus (who'd stayed on Olympus) so the three didn't see him and ask another million questions.

I begin wishing we'd just blindfolded them, but that would probably raise a few questions.

"What is that box that woman is using?" Plethora asked, looking at a businesswoman waiting for her flight, a laptop on her lap.

"Nothing important." I assured her, but she continued staring.

"That man has one too! Look, even that little girl. And so does he… and look! Another one!" She said excitedly, and I resisted the urge to face palm.

"It's nothing important." I said more forcefully, ignoring the looks we were getting (multiple shouts and pointing seem to attract them).

I ignored most of the questions I was asked, mainly handing them off as 'not important' or just pretending I didn't hear. I know it's kind of low, but I was willing to be called shallow as long as I don't have to explain the 'small rectangular device that woman is speaking with' again.

We waited outside on a bench, Will joining us again. Cars, rent-a-car buses and taxis passed by at a snail-pace, and Jessie explained the vehicles as 'Upgrades from horse carriages'.

"When's he coming?" I asked Will, and he shrugged.

"Depends on traffic. Could be twenty minutes or an hour." He said, and I nodded. I grimaced at my headache acted up again, wishing I could ignore it like I had been since we'd gotten off the plane. The symptoms returned, and I began talking to Jude about what we'd be doing now just to get my mind off of it.

"So this camp-" He was cut off by a scream.

The scream was answered by yells and shouts, and soon, everyone was running past us. The people in the cars from farther ahead had abandoned their cars also, and I drew Cutthroat as quietly as possible. It seemed heavier in my hand then normal, and I had to use my left hand instead of my right, since it was almost completely numbed by now.

"Knew this was going to happen." Will muttered, and by now, all of us had drawn our weapons. Plethora and Will had their bows at their sides, quivers on their backs, while the rest of us had swords of varying lengths.

All their weapons seemed more… expensive I guess you can say. Each of them had at least one gem on them (besides Plethora's arrows, of course) and somehow… better. I guess that's a given, though, since the Hephaestus cabin made nearly all of our weapons and it's not exactly like we have mounds of precious gemstones at hand to weld into each one.

Heroes who'd gotten theirs from a god, or found it on quest, usually obtained the more special ones, or the prettier ones. Once they died, the camp got them, unless the hero's family wanted it.

Will let out a low whistle when the monster came into view. Scratch that, when the _monsters_ came into view.

"Best of luck." Jude said, and the other two muttered agreements.

I swallowed, my throat dry as we faced the herd of Cyclops. This should be fun.

A/N

Sorry for the extremely late update! I'll try to update again this weekend. Thanks for all the reviews, also.

-Ash Colored Wings


	23. Chapter 23

My headache increased as I steadied my sword arm. I clenched my jaw, getting into a ready position.

Will and Plethora rapidly were knocking arrows and firing, managing to kill maybe two and enrage another five.

Plethora killed one more before drawing a bronze blade, and Will followed her example. A few seconds later, they were in dueling distance. I slashed at the closest one, managing to cut his showing belly. He brought his spiked club up, probably planning on bashing my brains in, but he was too slow – giving me the time to slip Cutthroat between his ribs and into his heart.

I pulled Cutthroat out as the Cyclops disintegrated, leaving a loincloth, a club and some gold dust where he'd been standing. I was surprised for a moment at how easy it was to kill him, but when I looked to the others and saw they all had a faint glow surrounding them, I knew that a god was aiding us.

I sent a short prayer of thanks to whatever god it was before rejoining the battle, noticing how my movements were more lithe and my strikes more accurate and strong. If I could actually fight like this on my own, I might even be able to best Luke – and that's saying something.

While my throbbing head continued to, well… throb, my limbs weren't as sore and lifting Cutthroat wasn't a chore.

The twenty or so Cyclops lay in piles of badly smelling dust, clothes and weapons only a few minutes later. The others seemed surprised too, but I let them figure it out on their own.

After we'd all checked each other out, making sure none of us had been hurt too badly, we stood there for a few moments. The awkward silence was dispelled by a loud, obnoxious, yet familiar honk, and we all looked in the direction to see a familiar white van with the camp's strawberry farm logo on its side.

"Our carriage awaits." I said, picking up my pack. I snagged the front seat before anyone else could, since I wouldn't be the one putting up with all the questions.

I smiled at Argus as I buckled my seatbelt, and he nodded.

"Went well, besides a few minor... drawbacks. Just so you should know, I need to pay a visit to Apollo before we go back to camp." I said, since I knew he wasn't about to ask, and held back a sigh as the god's magic began to wear off, my limbs returning to their previous state.

I'd been hoping that Apollo could heal me, since – if anyone could – it would definitely be Apollo.

"-Not a buckle! How? The belt to my trousers has a buckle, this is surely not the same thing." I heard Markus say after Jessie told him to 'buckle up'.

"You just take this, you see? Pull it over you and – over! Both of them go _over_ you. Not one behind, not one over, not any other possible combination you can think of. Now pull this all the way down to this – no! How would that help you at all? It wouldn't even be _touching_ you. For Hade's sake…" I tuned Jessie out after that, smiling slightly at her frustration.

Argus drove on the sidewalk, since there was no way we'd be waiting for every single scared-out-of-their-mind person to return to their car and return to the snail-pace crawl they'd had before. It's not like there was anyone on the sidewalk, anyways.

We returned onto the road when it was possible to, and Argus weaved between the abandoned cars until we arrived to the occupied cars, where we returned to the slow pace.

Jude, Markus and Plethora had stopped asking questions, instead observing everything. The lack of incessant talking helped my head slightly, dulling the throb but doing nothing for the pain. Though I'd never had a migraine, I'm sure this is what it would feel like. A particularly bad migraine that would end up killing you if you didn't go have your brain replaced.

Soon, we were turning onto 34th street off of 5th avenue, and Argus pulled to a stop of the curb, right between two taxis.

"C'mon. We have a quest to finish." Will said, shrugging on his backpack. Jessie and I followed his lead, while the other three simply held their bags at their sides. We entered the lobby, and I addressed the doorman. I couldn't remember if it were the same doorman as before, and even if it were, I doubt he'd remember us.

"Six hundredth floor." I said quietly when we were close enough.

"Listen kid, I don't know what you found and decided to snort, but if I were you, I'd avoid it from now on out." He said, smiling and shaking his head slightly as he scribbled something down on the Sudoku puzzle he was working on.

"Listen sir, we just finished a quest to find three of the gods long lost children, and I'm sure they would appreciate you holding their children back, the same children haven't seen for a few millennia. I bet you might even get a pay raise." I said, and he pressed a hidden button.

The elevators opened with a _ding_, and we all shuffled inside. Jude was obviously resisting from touching the spotless, gleaming metal, something I guess would have been rather valuable in his day, while the other two looked like they were about to burst with questions.

A constant jingle played in the background, and I noticed the three attempted subtle glances around the elevator, looking for the source of the sound.

"If you don't mind me asking, where is this box going to take us? Does it teleport to Olympus, or… is some other sort of magic at work upon it?" Plethora asked as we reached the forty-third floor.

"It's more of a system of ropes and cables, powered by energy the humans managed to harness. It takes us upward." Will explained, and she nodded slowly.

After this followed silence, until the doors opened.

"I won't ever get tired of setting my eyes upon Olympus." Markus said with a sigh as we admired the scene.

Breaking myself from the group, I strode out of the elevator.

"Come on. We can admire Olympus another time." I said, beginning on the walkway towards the top for the second time that month.

A/N

Sorry for the extremely delayed update! Soccer practice began two weeks ago, and I'm doing my best to write most of the chapters during the weekend, but hadn't had time to finish. Practice got canceled today though (thunderstorm), so I decided I needed to finish this.

Thank you for all the reviews, I love reading each one! I'm looking forward to whatever you have to say, even if it's just one or two words 'cause you're feeling lazy.

Again, sorry for the belated update, and I hope to update again this weekend! I'm trying to wrap this story up (I won't rush it though, so don't worry) so I can focus on my other ones, but it might seem sort of dull – after the climax of the story, I'm never that good with continuing them – so I apologize for that.

Thanks for reading!

-Ash Colored Wings


	24. Chapter 24

My headache increased to migraine level as ventured closer and closer to our goal.

I began to feel nervous and light headed as we ascended the white marble mountain that was Olympus. It didn't help that the calm and happy atmosphere that was here the last time we visited seemed hard to even imagine now. Those that we saw wouldn't meet our eyes, and scurried from place to place with their shoulders hunched.

No cheerful godlings or fat satyrs could be seen, and the one group of rebellious looking satyrs that we did see sitting on the rim of a fountain, watched us with suspicion as we passed. One whispered something that I didn't quite catch. It sounded something like "Think… is… demigods… Siberia?"

I glanced back, and caught Jessie's eye. She shrugged, walking faster so she was in stride with me.

"Maybe the gods were gossiping?" She guessed, and I nodded.

"That's probably it." I swallowed thickly, wishing I believed it.

* * *

><p>Aphrodite didn't stop us this time, and as we climbed the stairs, it gave me a better chance to marvel at the building we came closer and closer to it. The only way to describe the huge, Parthenon esque building (though the Parthenon was probably styled after <em>this<em> place) was… well, amazing. Majestic or _freaking _amazing might work too.

I felt decidedly ant-like as we entered, and remembered seeing the place when we'd first entered Olympus last time, on our way here before Aphrodite had intervened and taken us to one of the dozens of smaller temples that seemed to be littered around Olympus.

Inside, a magnified-by-ten-council-like setting greeted us. At the head of the half-moon shape the chairs created, was a throne I had no doubt belonged to Zeus. I counted them all, only coming out to eleven, and I frowned. Weren't their twelve Olympians?

"Where's Hades chair?" I asked, after scanning the chairs quickly, and realizing that one of the Big Three's chair seemed to be missing (after all, no chair containing screaming souls or made completely of bones seemed to be making an appearance) and Markus snorted softly.

"Are you only taught to swing a sword in this camp of yours?" He asked, and Plethora stepped on his foot, giving him a short, cold stare before returning to surveying the room, reminding me of a hawk or equally predatory, mean, cold, not-so-nice bird.

Er… I'm just not all that fond of Plethora…. Moving on.

"Hades chair is missing because of personal issues he's had with the other gods." Will answered my question, rolling his eyes, though I couldn't tell if it was at Markus or me.

"Right…" I said, and Jessie looked like she was about to say something to Markus when, in a flash, a black-haired, bearded man in a pinstriped black suit appeared. Judging from his ten-foot-tall stature and literal glow surrounding him, he was most likely a god. He wasn't exactly someone I'd mistake as a lost New Yorker.

"Who enters my domain?" He boomed, looking around for a moment before noticing us. Oh wow, how great for us. This wasn't just _any _god, this was the_ King_ of gods.

"We're demigods." Will answered after a moment, "I'm Will Solace, son of Apollo. My sister, Plethora." He motioned to his sister, "Then Jessica Godfrey, daughter of Aphrodite and her brother, Markus." He motioned to each person as he introduced them, and Markus stood a little taller as he was pointed to.

I was almost shaking as the attention was finally directed to me, and I tried smiling, but my mouth wouldn't comply. It felt like the muscles had opted for a career change and made Jell-O out of themselves instead.

"Cameron Nenuphar, " He paused, glancing at me with a small smile and I could imagine him saying 'Proud daughter of Hermes', but he just continued on, naming my father before introducing Jude as my brother.

"Godfrey? … Aphrodite mentioned you." Jessie looked caught somewhere between being star struck and terrified at being singled out by the King of gods, "Yes… you're the demigods from the quest! That's right." Zeus nodded, and for a moment, I saw a flash of irritation, but it disappeared quickly.

"Uh, yeah. I-We're-We just got back and I-I mean we're looking for Aphrodite, Hermes or Apollo." Jessie stumbled over the words, and I swore that it looked like she was shaking, very slightly.

I couldn't blame her, though. I'd probably faint. I can only wonder how Will managed even a whole sentence without stuttering, since I'd never thought he was one to do well in the spotlight, as he wasn't one to go out seeking attention.

Zeus frowned, when Hermes appeared, followed by Aphrodite, and after about another ten seconds, came Apollo.

"I'm sure you three can handle the situation." Zeus said, not waiting for an answer and instead disappearing. Because the golden steam wasn't there when he'd arrived, I'm pretty sure he'd made it appear now for the looks.

Aphrodite face lit up upon seeing Markus, and she beamed at him. I'm pretty sure he was her model 'Perfect demigod child' as he was heroic, handsome, probably somewhat akin to her past lover 'Adonis', and not to mention, conceited. Fairly trademark for a child of Aphrodite (though, I grudgingly admit, Jessie seems to have broken the mold somewhat on that last one).

Apollo grinned at his daughter, and her face softened somewhat into an almost-smile. I could tell she just wanted to hug her father. As cliché as it sounds… underneath all that mean, icky, stuck-upness that Plethora was, Plethora seemed to have someone a little better hidden deep, deep, _deep_ down there.

And, just like last time, Herme's reaction broke me the most. It's good to know that at least some of his kids are loved, though.

A/N

Sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry! I waited like a month to do this… Because spring break is this coming week, I'll make it my spring goal to update again!

I recently (a few days ago) got a review… and I was like "Shoot. People are still reading this." So I kind of guilted myself into writing this ^-^

Hope you enjoyed, and thank you for all of the reviews you've left! I love reading them, and if you find something that is maybe different from the last chapters (I might have accidently changed a last name, or a few other things) or just see a grammar issue, don't hold back from telling me!

I can only improve by realizing what's wrong or if I'm wrong, not matter how much it hurts to hear it.

Thanks for reading, and I hope you don't hate me too much for taking ten years to update!

-Ash Colored Wings


	25. Chapter 25

The smile Hermes gave Jude was the biggest smile I'd ever seen on him. To my side, Jude gave his own tentative smile.

"Welcome back, kids." Apollo greeted us, his smile lessening as he glanced at Aphrodite, who sighed and looked at him with a worried expression, tilting her head towards us. He shook his head, his eyebrows drawing together somewhat, and she nodded and shrugged with an it's-not-up-to-us sort of look.

"Geez… I'll tell them." Hermes said, looking slightly annoyed at the other two's antics. He turned to us, and then looked slightly drawn back as he faced us.

Meanwhile, I was wondering what the Hades was going on. Did this have something to do with why the citizens of Olympus were acting all weird?

"You three… Plethora, Jude, Markus… you have to leave." Hermes said, looking like the most uncomfortable god I'd ever seen.

"Uh…" I looked at Will, then at Jessie, thoroughly confused. Did we not just travel tens of thousands of miles to find these three demigods? Just so they can leave?

"Zeus demanded it. We've been trying to sway his decision the past week, since I told him about your quest, but he's sure. All of the god's have been increasingly irritable from the fights we've had, which is the cause for the quietness of Olympus, which you may or may not have noticed. They fear we'll act rashly if they annoy us." Aphrodite said, her voice tinged with annoyance, acting as if she'd never once _acted rashly_ in her life.

"You can stay a few days first, of course! … but, then we must send you back to your own time." Apollo added, his voice quieting at the end slightly.

"Back to our own time? What of us when we reappear in Olympus with no book, and you remember us not?" Plethora demanded, always the logical one. Well, I'm guessing she's always the logical one. I've known her for less then a week…

"We'll take care of this all, Plethora. You have no reason to worry." Apollo answered his daughter, and I wondered where all the care free spirit you'd expect Plethora to have inherited from her father had disappeared to.

Suddenly, a nymph floated into the room. She gestured for us to follow her, and Aphrodite nodded us on.

"Cameron, you stay." Apollo said, and I glanced at Will, who raised an eyebrow at me. I shrugged, and then gestured to my arm, and he nodded. He left with the other four, and I turned to face the three gods.

Or one god. Hermes and Aphrodite seemed to have disappeared to do whatever they do. I tried to hide my disappointment at missing my father.

Apollo shrank to normal size as he walked over to me, and I tried not to shrink back from him.

"Uh… I forgot to mention, Khione cursed me with snowflakes…" I said, and he nodded, pushing the sleeve of my sweater up after he looked at me for approval. I nodded, though I'm pretty sure he was just being polite.

"I could tell. It's a minor curse, should be easy to remove, though a little painful for you due to the nature of the curse. Khione is foolish to think she could poison me with it…" He said, and I felt a little bewildered, but he answered me before I could ask any question, "To heal you, I'll have to absorb the curse myself, but it won't affect me. The ichor in my veins will burn all poison away."

"Oh…" I said, and he applied a slightly pressure to my arm, and I swore that I could feel all the poison moving to the original infected site. I winced at the burning sensation I got in my arm, and was sure that if I were to look at my arm, I'd see a rather large bump.

Then, it was gone, and Apollo pulled back, a gleaming smile on his face.

"She's much less clever then I thought… _much_ less."

-Line Breakando!-

Will and Jessie found themselves sitting alone in a sort of mess hall, as most didn't eat at the unusual hour. On the opposite side of the hall, sat the only other person in the room, a creature that neither Will nor Jessie could quite identify.

"So, when are you going to ask her?" Jessie asked, picking pieces of diced green pepper off of a slice of pizza.

"Ask who what?" Will asked, already half way finished with his own slice. He shook his head to move an annoying piece of hair from the center of his forehead, where it seemed to find the only ticklish place on his whole head. As he swallowed another mouthful of the cheese pizza, he decided he was getting a haircut as soon as he got home to Rhode Island, in a month and a half or so.

"When are you asking Cameron to go out?" Jessie asked, her tone implying that it should be obvious, finally beginning her own pizza. Were Will to still have anything in his mouth, he would have spit it out.

"_What_? Cameron?" He asked, giving Jessie an incredulous look.

"Oh. My. Gosh. Don't you dare deny it!" Jessie gave him a look that said 'There-will-be-consequences'.

"I don't-" Will stopped, since he wasn't about to test Jessie, "Uh… no, I wasn't planning on it."

"Why not?" She asked irritably. Will cleared his throat, standing up and shoving the rest his pizza into his mouth.

Between a mouthful of dough, cheese and marinara sauce, he told Jessie that he was going to go take a nap. Jessie watched him suspiciously as he left, before muttering something under her breath that had a few things to do with boys, Eros, an arrow in the butt, and blindness.

A/N

I'm definitely going to be finished with this story in a couple of chapters. This'll be the only story I've ever finished, so I'm proud of myself ^_~

Anyways, because this _is_ a "WillxOc" story, I decided to FINALLY introduce some sort of romance. No… I'm not about to include any thing that will change the rating to M., they're only 14/15…

I loved the reviews that I got, and I'm looking forward to whatever you have to say about this chapter! Be blunt, be… not quite rude, but don't be afraid to say what you feel! I want to hear (or read?) it.

Thanks for reading! 

-Ash Colored Wings


	26. Chapter 26

The next day, we were on our way back to camp, leaving our newfound siblings behind. Apparently, they had to track down Chronos to take them back to their time, and he could be anywhere. Chronos was, ironically, also the god of time – the same as Cronus _(A/N: Kronos, Kronus, there's a few different spellings)_ the Titan.

"Seventeen days…" Jessie muttered to herself as we hiked up the hill. If we were sitting down, I could easily imagine she'd have her chin rested on her fist.

"The Summer Solstice was only a few days after we left. Do you think Percy Jackson will be here?" Will asked as we got to Thalia's Pine.

"Since there's no mass destruction going on, I'm guessing yes." I said. We all paused for a second, surveying the camp. For some reason, it seemed like something should have changed in our absence, however short.

No one congratulated us as we walked through the camp towards the Big House, probably because not many people knew of our quest of sorts. Those that did know about the reason behind our leave gave us small smiles, but I was pretty sure no one _really _knew what had happened. For all they knew, we had just went to Olympus for a few weeks.

Just like they always were, Chiron and Mr. D were playing some sort of card game on the porch. Mr. D had a glass of a Diet Coke, given away by the empty can next to it.

Mr. D, in all of his leopard-print-jumpsuit glory, stood up and left, grumbling under his breath all the while. Chiron watched him for a second, turning to us as he disappeared into the Big House.

"Some of the gods have been upset over the three children you retrieved. They've made Dionysus's days difficult these past weeks." Chiron said, his voice holding a somber note, before he brightened considerably, "I _am_ glad you made it, though. What with Khione being upset with the gods, and the feud Zeus and Poseidon have been having, I thought things might be a little, er, rocky." He gave a sort of smile.

"Thanks. Uh, I'm a little hungry, and lunch is in a few minutes so I'm going to go put my things away…" Will said, scratching the back of his neck awkwardly.

"Yeah, I'll go with him." I said, and we both began down the stairs. Jesse sidled up next to us, not saying a word.

"Jessie. I'd like to have a private talk with you." Chiron said in a reprimanding tone, and I just barely heard her sigh.

"Fine." She said, turning around in an exaggerated fashion.

I gave Will a short smile, noticing how much happier (and handsomer) he looked in the sun then he had in Siberia. He gave me a smile back, and everything felt… too good to be true.

* * *

><p>"You shouldn't be using your powers, no matter your purpose, on your fellow campers." Chiron said. Jessie nodded, but kept a small part of her mind concentrated on Will and Cameron, "Ms. Godfrey." He said sternly, and she sighed, dropping the connection.<p>

About thirty feet away, both Will and Cameron shook their heads, as if shaking away a fly... or an annoying hair... or a love charm set upon them by a _well-meaning_ daughter of Aphrodite.

"Thank you." He said, and Jesse took that as her leave.

And, while Chiron began shuffling the cards, waiting for Dionysus to come back out, he missed the devious smile on Jesse's face as she headed back for her cabin.

You see, while up on Olympus, Aphrodite hadn't only taught her a thing or two about magic. A certain mix of this and a certain pinch of that could make the perfect love potion!

After dropping her things off, Jesse made her way into the forest, plucking things here and there before returning to her empty cabin, as everyone else was off at lunch.

"Perfect." Jesse said under her breath, smiling as she crunched the leaves and tip of an ambrosia square with a mortar and pestle. She put the moist solution into a small Ziploc bag, and stuffed it into her pocket before heading off to lunch. If she could just bribe a nymph or two, everything would go perfectly!

Up in the skies, Aphrodite felt the same excitement as her daughter, and even made the nymph be a little more lenient, for her daughter's sake. And even with the war brewing, Luke's betrayal and the inevitable death's of so many campers... Aphrodite was sure the two would be just fine.

Aphrodite was nearly singing at the tragic love story in the making! It wouldn't be quite as good as Orpheus's and Eurydice's but... she could always hope. Well, of course, she didn't wish death upon Cameron and a life of mourning upon Will, with an eventual assassination, but... you know.

A/N

And that… is it. Sucky ending, I know. I just have had this on my conscience for the past couple of weeks, and I had to do it.

Ahem, I have a shout out or two to make! To:

The Eleven Days, chewy155, anon, AMessofPickles, Review-for-You, O.o LiviLou o.O, Princess of Hades, MissTechnicality, Drawing On Converse, JayMarielle, Awesome-Fawkes, chaSing b0b, PerMaXAnFan, nicomwaah, Fox Berrie, mosspath of riverclan 030, Samus of the Cranes, flipntwist, iloveluke, Lalalalala, CTgirl14, Alex, OxIzzyxO, Miette in the Rain, Sunny99, Kas, StarlightShivers, _and finally_ GO NATURE

Thank you for reviewing! Also, thank you to all of those who placed my story on alert and favorite-d it, I can't really blame you for not reviewing because I myself am extremely lazy some days (which, for those of you who have been following my story, you probably know).

If I misspelled your username or forgot you, please tell me! I definitely did not mean to, and I don't want to offend anyone because of a typo or something.

So… I'll leave it at that. Thank you, all!

-Ash Colored Wings


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